Improving temporal resolution of ultrafast electron diffraction by eliminating arrival time jitter induced by radiofrequency bunch compression cavities

The temporal resolution of sub-relativistic ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) is generally limited by radio frequency (RF) phase and amplitude jitter of the RF lenses that are used to compress the electron pulses. We theoretically show how to circumvent this limitation by using a combination of several RF compression cavities. We show that if powered by the same RF source and with a proper choice of RF field strengths, RF phases and distances between the cavities, the combined arrival time jitter due to RF phase jitter of the cavities is cancelled at the compression point. We also show that the effect of RF amplitude jitter on the temporal resolution is negligible when passing through the cavity at a RF phase optimal for (de)compression. This will allow improvement of the temporal resolution in UED experiments to well below 100 fs

Narratives of Undiagnosability:Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Life-Writing and the Indeterminacy of Illness Memoirs

There is a distinct tendency within the field of psychological and psychiatric literature to cite illness memoirs as exemplary sources of insight into the subjective dimension of how illness is experienced. However, the epistemological reliability of such sources remains open to question: Do such sources indeed offer meaningful insights into the authentic experiences of patients and in doing so, provide effective coping and self-management strategies, or are they merely literary and/or popular constructs, the value and meaning of which are fundamentally indeterminate? In this contribution, I analyze three such memoirs: Floyd Skloot’s (1996) The Night-side; Rik Carlson’s (2004) We’re Not in Kansas Anymore; and Julie Rehmeyer’s (2017) Through the Shadowlands—all describing individual experiences of the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). As CFS remains a puzzling and contested illness, an analysis of these narratives offers the opportunity to explore the presupposed values as well as the limitations of illness life-writing. In this article, I map the academic debate on the epistemological value of illness narratives and chart the discussion on CFS since the early 1990s. Subsequently, I propose a double reading—a “medical” reading and a “literary” reading—of the memoirs considered. Finally, I suggest that the inherent indeterminacy of CFS life-writing is an important quality that contributes to a deeper understanding of living and coping with chronic, as yet medically unexplained illnesses. Reading illness memoirs, I conclude, reveals the rhetorical and cultural dimensions, as well as the ambiguities and uncertainties of such experiences

Idolizing Authorship:An Introduction

Though these days, our celebrity culture tends to revolve around movie stars and pop musicians, there have been plenty of celebrity authors over the years and around the world. This volume brings together a number of contributors to look at how and why certain writers have attained celebrity throughout history. How were their images as celebrities constructed by themselves and in complicity with their fans? And how did that process and its effects differ from country to country and era to era