• Physicists publish on X-ray lasers takin

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Mon Mar 7 21:30:48 2022
    Physicists publish on X-ray lasers taking pictures of complex molecules


    Date:
    March 7, 2022
    Source:
    Kansas State University
    Summary:
    Physicists have used the world's largest X-ray laser to take
    pictures of complex molecules. With ultra-bright X-ray flashes, the
    scientists were able to take snapshots of gas-phase iodopyridine
    molecules with atomic resolution. In the process, the molecules
    are exploded by the X-ray laser, and the image is reconstructed
    from the pieces.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Kansas State University physicists Daniel Rolles and Artem Rudenko, and
    their graduate student, Xiang Li, are part of an international research
    team that has published the article "X-ray multiphoton-induced Coulomb explosion images complex single molecules" inNature Physics, a monthly
    journal publishing research in all areas of physics, pure and applied.


    ==========================================================================
    The team used the world's largest X-ray laser, the European XFEL, to
    take pictures of complex molecules. With ultra-bright X-ray flashes, the scientists were able to take snapshots of gas-phase iodopyridine molecules
    with atomic resolution. In the process, the molecules are exploded by
    the X-ray laser, and the image is reconstructed from the pieces.

    In the method known as Coulomb explosion imaging, a high-intensity and
    ultra- short X-ray laser pulse knocks out numerous electrons from the
    molecule. Due to the strong electrostatic repulsion between the remaining, positively charged atoms, the molecule explodes within a few femtoseconds
    -- the millionths of a billionth of a second, the individual atoms fly
    apart and are registered by a detector.

    "Our group and many other researchers have been doing similar Coulomb
    explosion imaging experiments for a while, but we have never been able
    to take such crisp and clear images of such a relatively large molecule
    with this technique before," Rolles said.

    "One of the key points here is that we can see all hydrogen atoms,
    which are hard to image by more conventional techniques like X-ray or
    electron diffraction," adds Rudenko.

    The work published in Nature Physics is part of a broader effort to
    develop this new imaging technique.



    ========================================================================== "Recently, our collaboration published a closely-related paper inPhysical Review Research, led by our graduate student, Xiang Li, where we have
    shown that for somewhat simpler molecules, even the full 3D structure
    can be captured," Rudenko said.

    The images are an important step toward recording molecular movies, which researchers hope to use in the future to observe details of biochemical, chemical and physical reactions with high resolution.

    "Seeing how well this works with the extremely short X-ray pulses from
    an X-ray free-electron laser such as the European XFEL got us really
    excited about the prospect of being able to take molecular movies
    of photochemical reactions in complex molecules that are a bit more
    exciting than simple diatomics or triatomics, and are relevant for many technological applications," Rolles said.

    This realization is particularly timely since the SLAC National Lab
    in Stanford is about to start its upgraded high-repetition-rate X-ray
    laser, LCLS-2 this fall, which will deliver 1,000 times more pulses per
    second than the current version used so far. Combing these incredibly
    high repetition rates with the demonstrated Coulomb explosion imaging
    technique promises to revolutionize the field of molecular "movie making," which will benefit such important technological areas as solar energy conversion, photocatalysis and artificial photosynthesis.

    "We have recently received more than $1.1 million in funding from the
    National Science Foundation to purchase a high repetition rate, 100-kHz femtosecond laser for our lab here at K-State," Rudenko said. "With
    this new laser and the things we have learned about Coulomb explosion
    imaging, we are hoping to be able to take similar movies here as well."
    Rolles and Rudenko work at the J.R. Macdonald Laboratory at the K-State
    physics department, which is one of the most active centers for atomic, molecular and optical physics in the United States. Similar to SLAC,
    the lab is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Li is now working
    at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

    The work was performed by a large international research team led by
    Rebecca Boll from the European XFEL, which included researchers from
    the universities of Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Main and Kassel, Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, Kansas State University, the Max Planck Institutes
    for Medical Research and for Nuclear Physics, the Fritz Haber Institute
    of the Max Planck Society, the U.S.

    accelerator center SLAC, the Hamburg Cluster of Excellence CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter, the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science at DESY,
    DESY and European XFEL.

    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Kansas_State_University. Note:
    Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Rebecca Boll, Julia M. Scha"fer, Benoi^t Richard, Kilian Fehre,
    Gregor
    Kastirke, Zoltan Jurek, Markus S. Scho"ffler, Malik M. Abdullah,
    Nils Anders, Thomas M. Baumann, Sebastian Eckart, Benjamin Erk,
    Alberto De Fanis, Reinhard Do"rner, Sven Grundmann, Patrik
    Grychtol, Alexander Hartung, Max Hofmann, Markus Ilchen, Ludger
    Inhester, Christian Janke, Rui Jin, Max Kircher, Katharina Kubicek,
    Maksim Kunitski, Xiang Li, Tommaso Mazza, Severin Meister, Niklas
    Melzer, Jacobo Montano, Valerija Music, Giammarco Nalin, Yevheniy
    Ovcharenko, Christopher Passow, Andreas Pier, Nils Rennhack,
    Jonas Rist, Daniel E. Rivas, Daniel Rolles, Ilme Schlichting,
    Lothar Ph. H. Schmidt, Philipp Schmidt, Juliane Siebert, Nico
    Strenger, Daniel Trabert, Florian Trinter, Isabel Vela-Perez,
    Rene Wagner, Peter Walter, Miriam Weller, Pawel Ziolkowski,
    Sang-Kil Son, Artem Rudenko, Michael Meyer, Robin Santra, Till
    Jahnke. X-ray multiphoton-induced Coulomb explosion images complex
    single molecules.

    Nature Physics, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41567-022-01507-0 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220307113032.htm

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