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arXiv · 1310.8594

Single-shot 3D structure determination of nanocrystals with femtosecond X-ray free electron laser pulses

Abstract

Coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) using synchrotron radiation, X-ray free electron lasers (X-FELs), high harmonic generation, soft X-ray lasers, and optical lasers has found broad applications across several disciplines. An active research direction in CDI is to determine the structure of single particles with intense, femtosecond X-FEL pulses based on diffraction-before-destruction scheme. However, single-shot 3D structure determination has not been experimentally realized yet. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of single-shot 3D structure determination of individual nanocrystals using ~10 femtosecond X-FEL pulses. Coherent diffraction patterns are collected from high-index-faceted nanocrystals, each struck by a single X-FEL pulse. Taking advantage of the symmetry of the nanocrystal, we reconstruct the 3D structure of each nanocrystal from a single-shot diffraction pattern at ~5.5 nm resolution. As symmetry exists in many nanocrystals and virus particles, this method can be applied to 3D structure studies of such particles at nanometer resolution on femtosecond time scales.

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Rui Xu, Huaidong Jiang, Changyong Song, Jose A. Rodriguez, Zhifeng Huang, Chien-Chun Chen, Daewoong Nam, Jaehyun Park, Marcus Gallagher-Jones, Sangsoo Kim, Sunam Kim, Akihiro Suzuki, Yuki Takayama, Tomotaka Oroguchi, Yukio Takahashi, Jiadong Fan, Yunfei Zou, Takaki Hatsui, Yuichi Inubushi, Takashi Kameshima, Koji Yonekura, Kensuke Tono, Tadashi Togashi, Takahiro Sato, Masaki Yamamoto, Masayoshi Nakasako, Makina Yabashi, Tetsuya Ishikawa, Jianwei Miao. 2013-10-31. Single-shot 3D structure determination of nanocrystals with femtosecond X-ray free electron laser pulses. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5061

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