Many-Beam Solution to the Phase Problem in Crystallography

Abstract

Solving crystal structures from electron diffraction patterns rather than X-ray diffraction data is hampered by multiple scattering of the fast electrons within even very thin samples and the difficulty of obtaining diffraction data at a resolution high enough for applying direct phasing methods. This letter presents a method by which the effect of multiple scattering is being used for solving the phase problem, allowing the retrieval of electron structure factors from diffraction patterns recorded with varying angle of incidence without any assumption about the scattering potential itself. In particular, the resolution in the diffraction data does not need to be sufficient to resolve atoms, making this method particularly interesting for electron crystallography of 2-dimensional protein crystals and other beam-sensitive complex structures.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure