537 research outputs found
Theoretical study of electronic damage in single particle imaging experiments at XFELs for pulse durations 0.1 - 10 fs
X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) may allow to employ the single particle
imaging (SPI) method to determine the structure of macromolecules that do not
form stable crystals. Ultrashort pulses of 10 fs and less allow to outrun
complete disintegration by Coulomb explosion and minimize radiation damage due
to nuclear motion, but electronic damage is still present. The major
contribution to the electronic damage comes from the plasma generated in the
sample that is strongly dependent on the amount of Auger ionization. Since the
Auger process has a characteristic time scale on the order of femtoseconds, one
may expect that its contribution will be significantly reduced for attosecond
pulses. Here, we study the effect of electronic damage on the SPI at pulse
durations from 0.1 fs to 10 fs and in a large range of XFEL fluences to
determine optimal conditions for imaging of biological samples. We analyzed the
contribution of different electronic excitation processes and found that at
fluences higher than - photons/m (depending on the
photon energy and pulse duration) the diffracted signal saturates and does not
increase further. A significant gain in the signal is obtained by reducing the
pulse duration from 10 fs to 1 fs. Pulses below 1 fs duration do not give a
significant gain in the scattering signal in comparison with 1 fs pulses. We
also study the limits imposed on SPI by Compton scattering.Comment: 35 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, 2 appendixes, 45 reference
Impact of ultrafast electronic damage in single particle x-ray imaging experiments
In single particle coherent x-ray diffraction imaging experiments, performed
at x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs), samples are exposed to intense x-ray
pulses to obtain single-shot diffraction patterns. The high intensity induces
electronic dynamics on the femtosecond time scale in the system, which can
reduce the contrast of the obtained diffraction patterns and adds an isotropic
background. We quantify the degradation of the diffraction pattern from
ultrafast electronic damage by performing simulations on a biological sample
exposed to x-ray pulses with different parameters. We find that the contrast is
substantially reduced and the background is considerably strong only if almost
all electrons are removed from their parent atoms. This happens at fluences of
at least one order of magnitude larger than provided at currently available
XFEL sources.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures submitted to PR
Spin polarization of the Ar* 2pâ11/2 4s and 2pâ11/2 3d resonant Auger decay
The spin-resolved Auger decay of the Ar 2pâ11/2 3d state was measured at moderate energy resolution and compared with the decay of the 2pâ11/2 4s. The former shows a lower transferred spin polarization and a similar, if not higher, dynamical spin polarization, supporting the statement that a fully resolved spectrum is not a necessary condition for observing dynamical spin polarization. An interpretation of the spin polarization as configuration interaction induced effect in the final ionic state leads to partial agreement with our relativistic distorted wave calculation utilizing a 36 configuration state function basis set. Comparison of the experimental and numerical results leads to ambiguities for at least one Auger line. A hypothetical, qualitative interpretation is discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58121/2/b7_17_012.pd
Angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy of two-color XUV-NIR ionization with polarization control
Electron emission caused by extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation in the presence of a strong near infrared (NIR) field leads to multiphoton interactions that depend on several parameters. Here, a comprehensive study of the influence of the angle between the polarization directions of the NIR and XUV fields on the two-color angle-resolved photoelectron spectra of He and Ne is presented. The resulting photoelectron angular distribution strongly depends on the orientation of the NIR polarization plane with respect to that of the XUV field. The prevailing influence of the intense NIR field over the angular emission characteristics for He(1s) and Ne(2p) ionization lines is shown. The underlying processes are modeled in the frame of the strong field approximation (SFA) which shows very consistent agreement with the experiment reaffirming the power of the SFA for multicolor-multiphoton ionization in this regime
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