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Abstract of [Slowik14a]

Inelastic X-ray Scattering in Single Molecule Imaging with Free-Electron Lasers

Jan Malte Slowik, Gopal Dixit, Sang-Kil Son, and Robin Santra

DPG Spring Meeting of the Section AMOP
(German Physical Society, Berlin, Germany, March 17-21, 2014)

[bib][BibTeX][link]http://www.dpg-verhandlungen.de/year/2014/conference/berlin/part/a/session/41/contribution/3

Imaging of the structure of bio-macromolecules with atomic resolution is essential to comprehend their function. Because many proteins do not form crystals, it would be enormously beneficial to be able to image single molecules. Free-electron lasers (FEL) offer an ideal tool to image nanocrystals and single-molecules with atomic resolution. The structural information is contained in the elastic x-ray scattering signal. However, in contrast to crystallography, in single molecule imaging there are no Bragg reflections, which means the elastic scattering is not enhanced. Because the usual scattering detectors cannot distinguish between elastically or inelastically scattered photons, the quality of the signal is attenuated by inelastic scattering. Here, we present a study of inelastic x-ray scattering under typical single molecule imaging conditions. We show the scattering spectrum as well as elastic and inelastic scattering probabilities, using the example of a carbon atom. Furthermore, we include the radiation damage caused by the highly intense FEL x-ray pulse by solving a rate equation model. In this way we obtain the elastic and inelastic scattering patterns of a carbon atom for different pulse durations and fluences.

Tags: XATOM, CFEL, DESY


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