1. |
- Bogan, Michael J., et al.
(author)
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Aerosol Imaging with a Soft X-Ray Free Electron Laser
- 2010
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In: Aerosol Science and Technology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0278-6826 .- 1521-7388. ; 44:3, s. I-VI
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Lasers have long played a critical role in the advancement of aerosol science. A new regime of ultrafast laser technology has recently be realized, the world's first soft x-ray free electron laser. The Free electron LASer in Hamburg, FLASH, user facility produces a steady source of 10 femtosecond pulses of 7–32 nm x-rays with 1012 photons per pulse. The high brightness, short wavelength, and high repetition rate (> 500 pulses per second) of this laser offers unique capabilities for aerosol characterization. Here we use FLASH to perform the highest resolution imaging of single PM2.5 aerosol particles in flight to date. We resolve to 35 nm the morphology of fibrous and aggregated spherical carbonaceous nanoparticles that existed for less than two milliseconds in vacuum. Our result opens the possibility for high spatial- and time-resolved single particle aerosol dynamics studies, filling a critical technological need in aerosol science.
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2. |
- Bogan, Michael J, et al.
(author)
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Single particle X-ray diffractive imaging
- 2008
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In: Nano letters (Print). - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1530-6984 .- 1530-6992. ; 8:1, s. 310-6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In nanotechnology, strategies for the creation and manipulation of nanoparticles in the gas phase are critically important for surface modification and substrate-free characterization. Recent coherent diffractive imaging with intense femtosecond X-ray pulses has verified the capability of single-shot imaging of nanoscale objects at suboptical resolutions beyond the radiation-induced damage threshold. By intercepting electrospray-generated particles with a single 15 femtosecond soft-X-ray pulse, we demonstrate diffractive imaging of a nanoscale specimen in free flight for the first time, an important step toward imaging uncrystallized biomolecules.
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3. |
- Boutet, Sebastien, et al.
(author)
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Ultrafast soft X-ray scattering and reference-enhanced diffractive imaging of weakly scattering nanoparticles
- 2008
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In: Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena. - : Elsevier BV. - 0368-2048 .- 1873-2526. ; 166, s. 65-73
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the first successful reconstruction of the real space image from coherent X-ray diffraction patterns of membrane-supported nanoparticles using single ultrafast pulses. The particles consisted of 145-nm spherical polystyrene spheres that were size-selected by differential mobility analysis. We investigated the dependence of signal intensity on the number of spherical nanoparticles irradiated by single ultrafast pulses at the FLASH FEL facility. We demonstrate detection of as few as two 145-nm diameter particles irradiated by a single 32 nm fs-long FLASH pulse focused to 2.4Jcm(-2). In this case the noise in the diffraction pattern. due to photon-counting statistics and scattering from the supporting silicon nitride membrane, was the largest contributor to the recorded intensity. We were able to reconstruct high-resolution images of the nanoparticles using a strong scattering reference object to aid the phase retrieval of the coherent diffraction pattern. This method of reference-enhanced diffractive imaging may allow the imaging of weakly scattering objects at FLASH and other future X-ray FEL sources.
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4. |
- Chapman, Henry N., et al.
(author)
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Femtosecond diffractive imaging with a soft-X-ray free-electron laser
- 2006
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In: Nature Physics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1745-2473 .- 1745-2481. ; 2:12, s. 839-843
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Theory predicts(1-4) that, with an ultrashort and extremely bright coherent X-ray pulse, a single diffraction pattern may be recorded from a large macromolecule, a virus or a cell before the sample explodes and turns into a plasma. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of this principle using the FLASH soft-X-ray free-electron laser. An intense 25 fs, 4 x 10(13) W cm(-2) pulse, containing 10(12) photons at 32 nm wavelength, produced a coherent diffraction pattern from a nanostructured non-periodic object, before destroying it at 60,000 K. A novel X-ray camera assured single-photon detection sensitivity by filtering out parasitic scattering and plasma radiation. The reconstructed image, obtained directly from the coherent pattern by phase retrieval through oversampling(5-9), shows no measurable damage, and is reconstructed at the diffraction-limited resolution. A three-dimensional data set may be assembled from such images when copies of a reproducible sample are exposed to the beam one by one(10).
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5. |
- Chapman, Henry N, et al.
(author)
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Femtosecond time-delay X-ray holography
- 2007
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 448:7154, s. 676-679
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Extremely intense and ultrafast X-ray pulses from free-electron lasers offer unique opportunities to study fundamental aspects of complex transient phenomena in materials. Ultrafast time-resolved methods usually require highly synchronized pulses to initiate a transition and then probe it after a precisely defined time delay. In the X-ray regime, these methods are challenging because they require complex optical systems and diagnostics. Here we propose and apply a simple holographic measurement scheme, inspired by Newton's 'dusty mirror' experiment1, to monitor the X-ray-induced explosion of microscopic objects. The sample is placed near an X-ray mirror; after the pulse traverses the sample, triggering the reaction, it is reflected back onto the sample by the mirror to probe this reaction. The delay is encoded in the resulting diffraction pattern to an accuracy of one femtosecond, and the structural change is holographically recorded with high resolution. We apply the technique to monitor the dynamics of polystyrene spheres in intense free-electron-laser pulses, and observe an explosion occurring well after the initial pulse. Our results support the notion that X-ray flash imaging2, 3 can be used to achieve high resolution, beyond radiation damage limits for biological samples4. With upcoming ultrafast X-ray sources we will be able to explore the three-dimensional dynamics of materials at the timescale of atomic motion.
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6. |
- Loh, N. Duane, et al.
(author)
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Sensing the wavefront of x-ray free-electron lasers using aerosol spheres
- 2013
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In: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 21:10, s. 12385-12394
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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7. |
- Park, Hyung Joo, et al.
(author)
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Toward unsupervised single-shot diffractive imaging of heterogeneous particles using X-ray free-electron lasers
- 2013
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In: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 21:23, s. 28729-28742
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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8. |
- Seibert, M. Marvin, et al.
(author)
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Femtosecond diffractive imaging of biological cells
- 2010
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In: Journal of Physics B. - : IOP Publishing. - 0953-4075 .- 1361-6455. ; 43:19, s. 194015-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In a flash diffraction experiment, a short and extremely intense x-ray pulse illuminates the sample to obtain a diffraction pattern before the onset of significant radiation damage. The over-sampled diffraction pattern permits phase retrieval by iterative phasing methods. Flash diffractive imaging was first demonstrated on an inorganic test object (Chapman et al 2006 Nat. Phys. 2 839-43). We report here experiments on biological systems where individual cells were imaged, using single, 10-15 fs soft x-ray pulses at 13.5 nm wavelength from the FLASH free-electron laser in Hamburg. Simulations show that the pulse heated the sample to about 160 000 K but not before an interpretable diffraction pattern could be obtained. The reconstructed projection images return the structures of the intact cells. The simulations suggest that the average displacement of ions and atoms in the hottest surface layers remained below 3 angstrom during the pulse.
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9. |
- Benner, Mats, et al.
(author)
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Pathways to the entrepreneurial university: towards a global convergence
- 2008
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In: Science and Public Policy. - 1471-5430. ; 35:9, s. 681-695
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper analyzes the transition to the entrepreneurial university as part of a broader shift to a knowledge-based economy, arising from a complex interplay between exogenous (top-down) and endogenous factors (bottom-up) of a more or less similar nature, combined in different ways in different countries. Drawing on the experience of four countries (US, Sweden, Japan and Brazil) with different institutional trajectories and degrees of academic entrepreneurial transformation, under varying degrees of state control and levels of university initiative, we argue that a global convergence is currently taking shape toward entrepreneurial universities playing a central role in a knowledge-based economy that moves beyond etatism and pure market relations to an intermediate position within a triple helix regime. The role of public venture capital in financing the transition to the entrepreneurial university and its possible interventions in a counter-cyclical business model, which is also active in periods of economic downturn, are also discussed.
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10. |
- Daurer, Benedikt J., et al.
(author)
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Experimental strategies for imaging bioparticles with femtosecond hard X-ray pulses
- 2017
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In: IUCrJ. - : INT UNION CRYSTALLOGRAPHY. - 2052-2525. ; 4, s. 251-262
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study explores the capabilities of the Coherent X-ray Imaging Instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source to image small biological samples. The weak signal from small samples puts a significant demand on the experiment. Aerosolized Omono River virus particles of similar to 40 nm in diameter were injected into the submicrometre X-ray focus at a reduced pressure. Diffraction patterns were recorded on two area detectors. The statistical nature of the measurements from many individual particles provided information about the intensity profile of the X-ray beam, phase variations in the wavefront and the size distribution of the injected particles. The results point to a wider than expected size distribution (from similar to 35 to similar to 300 nm in diameter). This is likely to be owing to nonvolatile contaminants from larger droplets during aerosolization and droplet evaporation. The results suggest that the concentration of nonvolatile contaminants and the ratio between the volumes of the initial droplet and the sample particles is critical in such studies. The maximum beam intensity in the focus was found to be 1.9 * 10(12) photons per mu m(2) per pulse. The full-width of the focus at half-maximum was estimated to be 500 nm (assuming 20% beamline transmission), and this width is larger than expected. Under these conditions, the diffraction signal from a sample-sized particle remained above the average background to a resolution of 4.25 nm. The results suggest that reducing the size of the initial droplets during aerosolization is necessary to bring small particles into the scope of detailed structural studies with X-ray lasers.
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11. |
- Duane Loh, N., et al.
(author)
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Profiling structured beams using injected aerosols
- 2012
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In: Proceedings of SPIE. - : SPIE. - 9780819492210 ; , s. 850403-
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)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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12. |
- Frank, Matthias, et al.
(author)
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Femtosecond X-ray diffraction from two-dimensional protein crystals
- 2014
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In: IUCrJ. - 2052-2525. ; 1:2, s. 95-100
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- X-ray diffraction patterns from two-dimensional (2-D) protein crystals obtained using femtosecond X-ray pulses from an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) are presented. To date, it has not been possible to acquire transmission X-ray diffraction patterns from individual 2-D protein crystals due to radiation damage. However, the intense and ultrafast pulses generated by an XFEL permit a new method of collecting diffraction data before the sample is destroyed. Utilizing a diffract-before-destroy approach at the Linac Coherent Light Source, Bragg diffraction was acquired to better than 8.5 Å resolution for two different 2-D protein crystal samples each less than 10 nm thick and maintained at room temperature. These proof-of-principle results show promise for structural analysis of both soluble and membrane proteins arranged as 2-D crystals without requiring cryogenic conditions or the formation of three-dimensional crystals.
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13. |
- Garsen, Marjolein, et al.
(author)
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Heparanase Is Essential for the Development of Acute Experimental Glomerulonephritis
- 2016
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In: American Journal of Pathology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0002-9440 .- 1525-2191. ; 186:4, s. 805-815
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Heparanase, a heparan sulfate (HS)-specific endoglucuronidase, mediates the onset of proteinuria and renal damage during experimental diabetic nephropathy. Glomerular heparanase expression is increased in most proteinuric diseases. Herein, we evaluated the role of heparanase in two models of experimental glomerulonephritis, being anti-glomerular basement membrane and lipopolysaccharide-induced glomerulonephritis, in wild-type and heparanase-deficient mice. Induction of experimental glomerulonephritis Led to an increased heparanase expression in wild-type mice, which was associated with a decreased glomerular expression of a highly sulfated HS domain, and albuminuria. Albuminuria was reduced in the heparanase-deficient mice in both models of experimental glomerulonephritis, which was accompanied by a better renal function and less renal damage. Notably, glomerular HS expression was preserved in the heparanase-deficient mice. Glomerular leukocyte and macrophage influx was reduced in the heparanase-deficient mice, which was accompanied by a reduced expression of both types 1 and 2 helper T-cell cytokines. In vitro, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and Lipopolysaccharide directly induced heparanase expression and increased transendothelial albumin passage. Our study shows that heparanase contributes to proteinuria and renal damage in experimental glomerulonephritis by decreasing glomerular HS expression, enhancing renal leukocyte and macrophage influx, and affecting the Local cytokine milieu.
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14. |
- Hunter, Mark S, et al.
(author)
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Fixed-target protein serial microcrystallography with an x-ray free electron laser.
- 2014
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In: Scientific reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 4, s. 6026-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present results from experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) demonstrating that serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) can be performed to high resolution (~2.5 Å) using protein microcrystals deposited on an ultra-thin silicon nitride membrane and embedded in a preservation medium at room temperature. Data can be acquired at a high acquisition rate using x-ray free electron laser sources to overcome radiation damage, while sample consumption is dramatically reduced compared to flowing jet methods. We achieved a peak data acquisition rate of 10 Hz with a hit rate of ~38%, indicating that a complete data set could be acquired in about one 12-hour LCLS shift using the setup described here, or in even less time using hardware optimized for fixed target SFX. This demonstration opens the door to ultra low sample consumption SFX using the technique of diffraction-before-destruction on proteins that exist in only small quantities and/or do not produce the copious quantities of microcrystals required for flowing jet methods.
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