2010- @DESY

XFEL gets MAD

A combination between multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) and x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) opens up a new route of structural determination. Determination of protein structure is crucial to understand its biological functions. X-ray crystallography has been widely used for this purpose, but it suffers from two bottlenecks: the phase problem and growing high-quality crystals. MAD is a well-established technique with synchrotron radiation to address the phase problem, but standard synchrotron experiments need large-scale crystals. XFEL is a promising tool for structural determination without the need for large-scale crystals, but the phase problem remains largely unsolved. Question is, can we do MAD with XFEL? Because a great deal of ionization occurs during the extremely intense XFEL pulse, many have speculated that the answer is no until now. Here, we demonstrate that the MAD equation exists even with extensive electronic rearrangements at high x-ray intensity. Our results shows that we can do MAD with XFEL. We then propose MAD phasing for femtosecond x-ray nanocrystallography, which is one of the hottest topics in XFEL-driven science.

Effective anomalous scattering factor spectra at high intensities. The red curve is for the undamaged case, whereas the blue curve is for the highest intensity.

Related Publications
  1. Sang-Kil Son, Henry N. Chapman, and Robin Santra, Multiwavelength anomalous diffraction at high x-ray intensity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 218102 (2011) [bib][BibTeX][pdf][pdf][abstract][abstract][link]doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.218102
  2. Sang-Kil Son, Henry N. Chapman, and Robin Santra, Determination of multiwavelength anomalous diffraction coefficients at high x-ray intensity, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46, 164015 (2013) [special issue on frontiers of free-electron laser science] [bib][BibTeX][pdf][pdf][abstract][abstract][link][link][link]doi:10.1088/0953-4075/46/16/164015
  3. Lorenzo Galli, Sang-Kil Son, Thomas A. White, Robin Santra, Henry N. Chapman, and Max H. Nanao, Towards RIP using free electron laser SFX data, J. Synchrotron Radiat. 22, 249–255 (2015) [bib][BibTeX][abstract][abstract][link]doi:10.1107/S1600577514027854
  4. Lorenzo Galli, Sang-Kil Son, M. Klinge, S. Bajt, A. Barty, R. Bean, C. Betzel, K. R. Beyerlein, C. Caleman, R. B. Doak, M. Duszenko, H. Fleckenstein, C. Gati, B. Hunt, R. A. Kirian, M. Liang, M. H. Nanao, K. Nass, D. Oberthür, L. Redecke, R. Shoeman, F. Stellato, C. H. Yoon, T. A. White, O. Yefanov, J. Spence, and H. N. Chapman, Electronic damage in S atoms in a native protein crystal induced by an intense x-ray free-electron laser pulse, Struct. Dyn. 2, 041703 (2015) [special issue on biology with x-ray lasers 2] [bib][BibTeX][pdf][pdf][abstract][abstract][link]doi:10.1063/1.4919398
  5. Lorenzo Galli, Sang-Kil Son, Thomas R.M. Barends, Thomas A. White, Anton Barty, Sabine Botha, Sébastien Boutet, Carl Caleman, Bruce R. Doak, Max H. Nanao, Karol Nass, Robert L. Schoeman, Nicusor Timneanu, Robin Santra, Ilme Schlichting, and Henry N. Chapman, Towards phasing using high x-ray intensity, IUCrJ 2, 627–634 (2015) [bib][BibTeX][pdf][pdf][abstract][abstract][link]doi:10.1107/S2052252515014049
  6. Malik Muhammad Abdullah, Sang-Kil Son, Zoltan Jurek, and Robin Santra, Towards the theoretical limitations of x-ray nanocrystallography at high intensity: the validity of the effective-form-factor description, IUCrJ 5, 699–705 (2018) [bib][BibTeX][pdf][pdf][abstract][abstract][link]doi:10.1107/S2052252518011442
Oral Presentations
[Son13c]
Multiwavelength anomalous diffraction at high x-ray intensity by Sang-Kil Son
  1. New Science Opportunities at FLASH (DESY, Hamburg, Germany, October 12-14, 2011) [oral presentation] [bib][BibTeX][pdf][pdf][slide][slide: 8Mb][abstract][abstract][link][link]
  2. DPG Spring Meeting of the Section AMOP (German Physical Society, Stuttgart, Germany, March 12-16, 2012) [oral presentation] [bib][BibTeX][slide][slide: 4Mb][abstract][abstract][link][link]
  3. Ultrafast Dynamic Imaging of Matter (Banff, Canada, July 1-3, 2012) [oral presentation] [bib][BibTeX][pdf][pdf][slide][slide: 6Mb][abstract][abstract][link][link]
  4. The 24th PLS Synchrotron Radiation Users' Workshop (POSTECH, Pohang, Korea, November 22, 2012) [invited talk] [bib][BibTeX][slide][slide: 7Mb][abstract][abstract][link][link]
  5. Workshop on Resonant Elastic X-ray Scattering in Condensed Matter (Oxford, United Kingdom, July 15-19, 2013) [invited talk] [bib][BibTeX][pdf][pdf][slide][slide: 9Mb][abstract][abstract][link][link]
  6. Photoionization and Photodetachment (Gordon Research Conference, Galveston, Texas, United States, February 23-28, 2014) [invited talk] [bib][BibTeX][link][link]
[Son15]
High-intensity phasing with x-ray free-electron lasers by Sang-Kil Son
  1. 8th International Workshop on X-ray Radiation Damage to Biological Crystalline Samples (Hamburg, Germany, April 10-12, 2014) [invited talk] [bib][BibTeX][slide][slide: 5Mb][abstract][abstract][link][link]
  2. CCP4 Study Weekend (Nottingham, United Kingdom, January 7-9, 2015) [invited talk] [bib][BibTeX][slide][slide: 5Mb][abstract][abstract][link][link]
  3. BioXFEL STC 2nd Annual International Conference (Ponce, Puerto Rico, January 14-16, 2015) [invited talk] [bib][BibTeX][slide][slide: 6Mb][abstract][abstract][link][link]
Poster Presentations
[Son12b]
Multiwavelength anomalous diffraction at high x-ray intensity by Sang-Kil Son, Henry N. Chapman, and Robin Santra
  1. European XFEL and HASYLAB Users' Meeting (DESY, Hamburg, Germany, January 25-27, 2012) [poster] [bib][BibTeX][poster][poster: 4Mb][abstract][abstract][link][link]
  2. Science at FELs (DESY, Hamburg, Germany, July 15-18, 2012) [poster] [bib][BibTeX][pdf][pdf][abstract][abstract][link][link]
[Son15b]
High-intensity phasing 
with x-ray free-electron lasers by Sang-Kil Son, Lorenzo Galli, Henry N. Chapman, and Robin Santra in European XFEL and DESY Photon Science Users' Meeting (DESY, Hamburg, Germany, January 28-30, 2015) [poster] [bib][BibTeX][poster][poster: 4Mb][abstract][abstract][link][link]