Showing papers by "Sébastien Boutet published in 2007"

Femtosecond time-delay X-ray holography

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' experiment, 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 imaging can be used to achieve high resolution, beyond radiation damage limits for biological samples. With upcoming ultrafast X-ray sources we will be able to explore the three-dimensional dynamics of materials at the timescale of atomic motion.

Precrystallization clusters of holoferritin and apoferritin at low temperature

Abstract: The formation of small nanosized clusters of the proteins holoferritin and apoferritin at low temperature was studied using small angle x-ray scattering. A strikingly large temperature dependence for the average molecular spacing in the clusters was observed. Calculations of the scattered intensity for various cluster models were performed. Comparison of the data with the simulations revealed the presence of crystalline order in the clusters of size ranging from a few molecules to a few hundred molecules. The crystalline order was found to be preserved with the lattice spacing varying with temperature by up to 20%. The small clusters were observed to grow into large micron-sized crystals when they were annealed and under certain conditions, the small clusters were found to coexist with the large crystals. This suggests that these clusters are closely related to critical nucleation. The data are consistent with an isotropic nucleation pathway, but cannot completely rule out a smaller presence of planar nucleation.

Single Particle X-ray Diffractive Imaging

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 sub-optical 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.

LCLS Ultrafast Science Instruments:Conceptual Design Report

Abstract: The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), along with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), is constructing a Free-Electron Laser (FEL) facility, which will operate in the wavelength range 1.5 nm - 0.15 nm. This FEL, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), utilizes the SLAC linac and will produce sub-picosecond pulses of short wavelength X-rays with very high peak brightness and almost complete transverse coherence. The final one-third of the SLAC linac will be used as the source of electrons for the LCLS. The high energy electrons will be transported across the SLAC Research Yard, into a tunnel which will house a long undulator. In passing through the undulator, the electrons will be bunched by the force of their own synchrotron radiation and produce an intense, monochromatic, spatially coherent beam of X-rays. By varying the electron energy, the FEL X-ray wavelength will be tunable from 1.5 nm to 0.15 nm. The LCLS will include two experimental halls as well as X-ray optics and infrastructure necessary to create a facility that can be developed for research in a variety of disciplines such as atomic physics, materials science, plasma physics and biosciences. This Conceptual Design Report, the authors believe, confirms the feasibility of designing and constructing three X-ray instruments in order to exploit the unique scientific capability of this new LCLS facility. The technical objective of the LCLS Ultrafast Science Instruments (LUSI) project is to design, build, and install at the LCLS three hard X-ray instruments that will complement the initial instrument included in the LCLS construction. As the science programs advance and new technological challenges appear, instrumentation needs to be developed and ready to conquer these new opportunities. The LCLS instrument concepts have been developed in close consultation with the scientific community through a series of workshops team meetings and focused reviews. In particular, the LUSI project instruments have been identified as meeting the most urgent needs of the scientific community based on the advice of the LCLS Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) in response to an open call for letters of intent (LOI) from the breadth of the scientific community.

A camera for coherent diffractive imaging and holography with a soft-X-ray free electron laser

Abstract: We describe a camera to record coherent scattering patterns with a soft-X-ray free-electron laser. The camera consists of a laterally-graded multilayer mirror which reflects the diffraction pattern onto a CCD detector. The mirror acts as a bandpass filter both for wavelength and angle, which isolates the desired scattering pattern from non-sample scattering or incoherent emission from the sample. The mirror also solves the particular problem of the extreme intensity of the FEL pulses, which are focused to greater than 10{sup 14} W/cm{sup 2}. The strong undiffracted pulse passes through a hole in the mirror and propagates on to a beam dump at a distance behind the instrument rather than interacting with a beamstop placed near the CCD. The camera concept is extendable for the full range of the fundamental wavelength of the FLASH FEL (i.e. between 6 nm and 60 nm) and into the water window. We have fabricated and tested various multilayer mirrors for wavelengths of 32 nm, 16 nm, 13.5 nm, and 4.5 nm. At the shorter wavelengths mirror roughness must be minimized to reduce scattering from the mirror. We have recorded over 30,000 diffraction patterns at the FLASH free-electron laser with no observable mirror damage or degradation of performance.