X-Ray Diffraction from Isolated and Strongly Aligned Gas-Phase Molecules with a Free-Electron Laser
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: We report experimental results on x-ray diffraction of quantum-state-selected and strongly aligned ensembles of the prototypical asymmetric rotor molecule 2,5-diiodobenzonitrile using the Linac Coherent Light Source. The experiments demonstrate first steps toward a new approach to diffractive imaging of distinct structures of individual, isolated gas-phase molecules. We confirm several key ingredients of single molecule diffraction experiments: the abilities to detect and count individual scattered x-ray photons in single shot diffraction data, to deliver state-selected, e.g., structural-isomer-selected, ensembles of molecules to the x-ray interaction volume, and to strongly align the scattering molecules. Our approach, using ultrashort x-ray pulses, is suitable to study ultrafast dynamics of isolated molecules.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Authors: Jochen Küpper, Stephan Stern, Lotte Holmegaard, Frank Filsinger, Arnaud Rouzée, Artem Rudenko, Per Johnsson, Andrew V. Martin, Marcus Adolph, Andrew Aquila, Saša Bajt, Anton Barty, Christoph Bostedt, John Bozek, Carl Caleman, Ryan Coffee, Nicola Coppola, Tjark Delmas, Sascha Epp, Benjamin Erk, Lutz Foucar, Tais Gorkhover, Lars Gumprecht, Andreas Hartmann, Robert Hartmann, Günter Hauser, Peter Holl, Andre Hömke, Nils Kimmel, Faton Krasniqi, Kai-Uwe Kühnel, Jochen Maurer, Marc Messerschmidt, Robert Moshammer, Christian Reich, Benedikt Rudek, Robin Santra, Ilme Schlichting, Carlo Schmidt, Sebastian Schorb, Joachim Schulz, Heike Soltau, John C. H. Spence, Dmitri Starodub, Lothar Strüder, Jan Thøgersen, Marc J. J. Vrakking, Georg Weidenspointner, Thomas A. White, Cornelia Wunderer, Gerard Meijer, Joachim Ullrich, Henrik Stapelfeldt, Daniel Rolles, Henry N. Chapman
Institutions: Universität Hamburg, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Aarhus University, Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Max-Born-Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, Kansas State University, Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Lund University, Technische Universität Berlin, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Linac Coherent Light Source, Uppsala University, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, PNSensor (Germany), Max Planck Society, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Arizona State University, University of Siegen
Language: English
Subfield: Radiation
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2136423153