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3D-printed sheet jet for stable megahertz liquid sample delivery at X-ray free-electron lasers
- Source :
- IUCrJ, Vol 10, Iss 6, Pp 662-670 (2023)
- Publication Year :
- 2023
- Publisher :
- International Union of Crystallography, 2023.
-
Abstract
- X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) can probe chemical and biological reactions as they unfold with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. A principal challenge in this pursuit involves the delivery of samples to the X-ray interaction point in such a way that produces data of the highest possible quality and with maximal efficiency. This is hampered by intrinsic constraints posed by the light source and operation within a beamline environment. For liquid samples, the solution typically involves some form of high-speed liquid jet, capable of keeping up with the rate of X-ray pulses. However, conventional jets are not ideal because of radiation-induced explosions of the jet, as well as their cylindrical geometry combined with the X-ray pointing instability of many beamlines which causes the interaction volume to differ for every pulse. This complicates data analysis and contributes to measurement errors. An alternative geometry is a liquid sheet jet which, with its constant thickness over large areas, eliminates the problems related to X-ray pointing. Since liquid sheets can be made very thin, the radiation-induced explosion is reduced, boosting their stability. These are especially attractive for experiments which benefit from small interaction volumes such as fluctuation X-ray scattering and several types of spectroscopy. Although their use has increased for soft X-ray applications in recent years, there has not yet been wide-scale adoption at XFELs. Here, gas-accelerated liquid sheet jet sample injection is demonstrated at the European XFEL SPB/SFX nano focus beamline. Its performance relative to a conventional liquid jet is evaluated and superior performance across several key factors has been found. This includes a thickness profile ranging from hundreds of nanometres to 60 nm, a fourfold increase in background stability and favorable radiation-induced explosion dynamics at high repetition rates up to 1.13 MHz. Its minute thickness also suggests that ultrafast single-particle solution scattering is a possibility.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20522525
- Volume :
- 10
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- IUCrJ
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.fa25df8b41a2470ca3b53093fe9cc51e
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1107/S2052252523007972