14–16 Oct 2020
Paul Scherrer Institut
Europe/Zurich timezone

Is radiation damage the limiting factor in high-resolution single particle imaging with X-ray free-electron lasers?

15 Oct 2020, 15:20
20m
WBGB/019 (Paul Scherrer Institut)

WBGB/019

Paul Scherrer Institut

Forschungsstrasse 111 5232 Villigen PSI Switzerland

Speaker

Carl Caleman (Uppsala University)

Description

The prospect of single particle imaging with atomic resolution is one of the scientific drivers for the development of X-ray free-electron lasers. The assumption since the beginning has been that damage to the sample caused by intense X-ray pulses is one of the limiting factors for achieving subnanometer X-ray imaging of single particles and that X-ray pulses need to be as short as possible. Based on the molecular dynamics simulations of proteins in X-ray fields, we show that the noise in the diffracted signal caused by radiation damage is less than what can be expected from other sources, such as sample inhomogeneity and X-ray shot-to-shot variations. These findings show a different aspect of the feasibility of high-resolution single particle imaging using free-electron lasers, where employing X-ray pulses of longer durations could still provide a useful diffraction signal above the noise due to the Coulomb explosion.

Primary author

Carl Caleman (Uppsala University)

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