Single-Shot Femtosecond X-ray Diffraction from Randomly Oriented Ellipsoidal Nanoparticles

• Published in: Physical review special topics. PRST-AB. Accelerators and beams Vol. 13; no. 9
• Main Authors: Bogan, M.J., /SLAC, Boutet, S., Barty, A., /LLNL, Livermore /DESY, Benner, W.H., Frank, M., /LLNL, Livermore, Lomb, L., Shoeman, R., /Heidelberg, Max Planck Inst. Med. Res. /CFEL, Hamburg, Starodub, D., Seibert, M.M., /Uppsala U., Hau-Riege, S.P., Woods, B., Decorwin-Martin, P., Bajt, S., /DESY, Schulz, J., Rohner, U., /LLNL, Livermore /Unlisted, CH, Iwan, B., Timneanu, N., Marchesini, S., /LBL, Berkeley, Schlichting, I., Hajdu, J., Chapman, H.N., /DESY /Hamburg U., Inst. Theor. Phys. II
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 18-04-2012
• Subjects: Accelerators,XFEL; AERODYNAMICS; ALGORITHMS; DIFFRACTION; FREE ELECTRON LASERS; IRON OXIDES; ORIENTATION; PARTICLE ACCELERATORS; PLASMA; X-RAY DIFFRACTION
• ISSN: 1098-4402; 1098-4402

Coherent diffractive imaging of single particles using the single-shot 'diffract and destroy' approach with an x-ray free electron laser (FEL) was recently demonstrated. A high-resolution low-noise coherent diffraction pattern, representative of the object before it turns into a plasma and explodes, results from the interaction of the FEL with the particle. Iterative phase retrieval algorithms are used to reconstruct two-dimensional projection images of the object from the recorded intensities alone. Here we describe the first single-shot diffraction data set that mimics the data proposed for obtaining 3D structure from identical particles. Ellipsoidal iron oxide nanoparticles (250 nm x 50 nm) were aerosolized and injected through an aerodynamic lens stack into a soft x-ray FEL. Particle orientation was not controlled with this injection method. We observed that, at the instant the x-ray pulse interacts with the particle, a snapshot of the particle's orientation is encoded in the diffraction pattern. The results give credence to one of the technical concepts of imaging individual nanometer and subnanometer-sized objects such as single molecules or larger clusters of molecules using hard x-ray FELs and will be used to help develop robust algorithms for determining particle orientations and 3D structure.