| 1. |
- Duane Loh, N., et al.
(författare)
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Profiling structured beams using injected aerosols
- 2012
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE. - : SPIE. - 9780819492210 ; , s. 850403-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Profiling structured beams produced by X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) is crucial to both maximizing signal intensity for weakly scattering targets and interpreting their scattering patterns. Earlier ablative imprint studies describe how to infer the X-ray beam profile from the damage that an attenuated beam inflicts on a substrate. However, the beams in-situ profile is not directly accessible with imprint studies because the damage profile could be different from the actual beam profile. On the other hand, although a Shack-Hartmann sensor is capable of in-situ profiling, its lenses may be quickly damaged at the intense focus of hard X-ray FEL beams. We describe a new approach that probes the in-situ morphology of the intense FEL focus. By studying the translations in diffraction patterns from an ensemble of randomly injected sub-micron latex spheres, we were able to determine the non-Gaussian nature of the intense FEL beam at the Linac Coherent Light Source (SLAC National Laboratory) near the FEL focus. We discuss an experimental application of such a beam-profiling technique, and the limitations we need to overcome before it can be widely applied.
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| 2. |
- Hantke, Max Felix, 1984-
(författare)
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Coherent Diffractive Imaging with X-ray Lasers
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The newly emerging technology of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) has the potential to revolutionise molecular imaging. XFELs generate very intense X-ray pulses and predictions suggest that they may be used for structure determination to atomic resolution even for single molecules. XFELs produce femtosecond pulses that outrun processes of radiation damage and permit the study of structures at room temperature and of structural dynamics.While the first demonstrations of flash X-ray diffractive imaging (FXI) on biological particles were encouraging, they also revealed technical challenges. In this work we demonstrated how some of these challenges can be overcome. We exemplified, with heterogeneous cell organelles, how tens of thousands of FXI diffraction patterns can be collected, sorted, and analysed in an automatic data processing pipeline. We improved image resolution and reduced problems with missing data. We validated, described, and deposited the experimental data in the Coherent X-ray Imaging Data Bank.We demonstrated that aerosol injection can be used to collect FXI data at high hit ratios and with low background. We reduced problems with non-volatile sample contaminants by decreasing aerosol droplet sizes from ~1000 nm to ~150 nm. We achieved this by adapting an electrospray aerosoliser to the Uppsala sample injector. Mie scattering imaging was used as a diagnostic tool to measure positions, sizes, and velocities of individual injected particles.XFEL experiments generate large amounts of data at high rates. Preparation, execution, and data analysis of these experiments benefits from specialised software. In this work we present new open-source software tools that facilitates prediction, online-monitoring, display, and pre-processing of XFEL diffraction data.We hope that this work is a valuable contribution in the quest of transitioning FXI from its first experimental demonstration into a technique that fulfills its potentials.
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| 3. |
- Hantke, Max Felix, et al.
(författare)
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Rayleigh-scattering microscopy for tracking and sizing nanoparticles in focused aerosol beams
- 2018
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Ingår i: IUCrJ. - 2052-2525. ; 5, s. 673-680
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ultra-bright femtosecond X-ray pulses generated by X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) can be used to image high-resolution structures without the need for crystallization. For this approach, aerosol injection has been a successful method to deliver 70-2000 nm particles into the XFEL beam efficiently and at low noise. Improving the technique of aerosol sample delivery and extending it to single proteins necessitates quantitative aerosol diagnostics. Here a lab-based technique is introduced for Rayleigh-scattering microscopy allowing us to track and size aerosolized particles down to 40 nm in diameter as they exit the injector. This technique was used to characterize the 'Uppsala injector', which is a pioneering and frequently used aerosol sample injector for XFEL single-particle imaging. The particle-beam focus, particle velocities, particle density and injection yield were measured at different operating conditions. It is also shown how high particle densities and good injection yields can be reached for large particles (100-500 nm). It is found that with decreasing particle size, particle densities and injection yields deteriorate, indicating the need for different injection strategies to extend XFEL imaging to smaller targets, such as single proteins. This work demonstrates the power of Rayleigh-scattering microscopy for studying focused aerosol beams quantitatively. It lays the foundation for lab-based injector development and online injection diagnostics for XFEL research. In the future, the technique may also find application in other fields that employ focused aerosol beams, such as mass spectrometry, particle deposition, fuel injection and three-dimensional printing techniques.
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| 4. |
- Kurta, Ruslan P., et al.
(författare)
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Correlations in Scattered X-Ray Laser Pulses Reveal Nanoscale Structural Features of Viruses
- 2017
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - : American Physical Society. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 119:15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We use extremely bright and ultrashort pulses from an x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) to measure correlations in x rays scattered from individual bioparticles. This allows us to go beyond the traditional crystallography and single-particle imaging approaches for structure investigations. We employ angular correlations to recover the three-dimensional (3D) structure of nanoscale viruses from x-ray diffraction data measured at the Linac Coherent Light Source. Correlations provide us with a comprehensive structural fingerprint of a 3D virus, which we use both for model-based and ab initio structure recovery. The analyses reveal a clear indication that the structure of the viruses deviates from the expected perfect icosahedral symmetry. Our results anticipate exciting opportunities for XFEL studies of the structure and dynamics of nanoscale objects by means of angular correlations.
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| 5. |
- Loh, N. Duane, et al.
(författare)
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Sensing the wavefront of x-ray free-electron lasers using aerosol spheres
- 2013
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Ingår i: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 21:10, s. 12385-12394
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Characterizing intense, focused x-ray free electron laser (FEL) pulses is crucial for their use in diffractive imaging. We describe how the distribution of average phase tilts and intensities on hard x-ray pulses with peak intensities of 1021 W/m(2) can be retrieved from an ensemble of diffraction patterns produced by 70 nm-radius polystyrene spheres, in a manner that mimics wavefront sensors. Besides showing that an adaptive geometric correction may be necessary for diffraction data from randomly injected sample sources, our paper demonstrates the possibility of collecting statistics on structured pulses using only the diffraction patterns they generate and highlights the imperative to study its impact on single-particle diffractive imaging.
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| 6. |
- Martin, A. V., et al.
(författare)
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Noise-robust coherent diffractive imaging with a single diffraction pattern
- 2012
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Ingår i: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 20:15, s. 16650-16661
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The resolution of single-shot coherent diffractive imaging at X-ray free-electron laser facilities is limited by the low signal-to-noise level of diffraction data at high scattering angles. The iterative reconstruction methods, which phase a continuous diffraction pattern to produce an image, must be able to extract information from these weak signals to obtain the best quality images. Here we show how to modify iterative reconstruction methods to improve tolerance to noise. The method is demonstrated with the hybrid input-output method on both simulated data and single-shot diffraction patterns taken at the Linac Coherent Light Source. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America
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| 7. |
- Park, Hyung Joo, et al.
(författare)
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Toward unsupervised single-shot diffractive imaging of heterogeneous particles using X-ray free-electron lasers
- 2013
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Ingår i: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 21:23, s. 28729-28742
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Single shot diffraction imaging experiments via X-ray free-electron lasers can generate as many as hundreds of thousands of diffraction patterns of scattering objects. Recovering the real space contrast of a scattering object from these patterns currently requires a reconstruction process with user guidance in a number of steps, introducing severe bottlenecks in data processing. We present a series of measures that replace user guidance with algorithms that reconstruct contrasts in an unsupervised fashion. We demonstrate the feasibility of automating the reconstruction process by generating hundreds of contrasts obtained from soot particle diffraction experiments.
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