1. On the feasibility of nanocrystal imaging using intense and ultrashort 1.5 �� X-ray pulses
- Author
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Caleman, C., Huldt, G., Maia, F. R. N. C., Ortiz, C., Parak, F. G., Hajdu, J., van der Spoel, D., Chapman, H. N., and Timneanu, N.
- Subjects
Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph) - Abstract
Structural studies of biological macromolecules are severely limited by radiation damage. Traditional crystallography curbs the effects of damage by spreading damage over many copies of the molecule of interest. X-ray lasers, such as the recently built LINAC Coherent Light Source (LCLS), offer an additional opportunity for limiting damage by out-running damage processes with ultrashort and very intense X-ray pulses. Such pulses may allow the imaging of single molecules, clusters or nanoparticles, but coherent flash imaging will also open up new avenues for structural studies on nano- and micro-crystalline substances. This paper addresses the theoretical potentials and limitations of nanocrystallography with extremely intense coherent X-ray pulses. We use urea nanocrystals as a model for generic biological substances and simulate primary and secondary ionization dynamics in the crystalline sample. Our results establish conditions for ultrafast nanocrystallography diffraction experiments as a function of fluence and pulse duration., 6 pages, 4 color figures
- Published
- 2010
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