Physicists publish on X-ray lasers taking pictures of complex molecules
Date:
March 7, 2022
Source:
Kansas State University
Summary:
Physicists have used the world's largest X-ray laser to take
pictures of complex molecules. With ultra-bright X-ray flashes, the
scientists were able to take snapshots of gas-phase iodopyridine
molecules with atomic resolution. In the process, the molecules
are exploded by the X-ray laser, and the image is reconstructed
from the pieces.
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Kansas State University physicists Daniel Rolles and Artem Rudenko, and
their graduate student, Xiang Li, are part of an international research
team that has published the article "X-ray multiphoton-induced Coulomb explosion images complex single molecules" inNature Physics, a monthly
journal publishing research in all areas of physics, pure and applied.
==========================================================================
The team used the world's largest X-ray laser, the European XFEL, to
take pictures of complex molecules. With ultra-bright X-ray flashes, the scientists were able to take snapshots of gas-phase iodopyridine molecules
with atomic resolution. In the process, the molecules are exploded by
the X-ray laser, and the image is reconstructed from the pieces.
In the method known as Coulomb explosion imaging, a high-intensity and
ultra- short X-ray laser pulse knocks out numerous electrons from the
molecule. Due to the strong electrostatic repulsion between the remaining, positively charged atoms, the molecule explodes within a few femtoseconds
-- the millionths of a billionth of a second, the individual atoms fly
apart and are registered by a detector.
"Our group and many other researchers have been doing similar Coulomb
explosion imaging experiments for a while, but we have never been able
to take such crisp and clear images of such a relatively large molecule
with this technique before," Rolles said.
"One of the key points here is that we can see all hydrogen atoms,
which are hard to image by more conventional techniques like X-ray or
electron diffraction," adds Rudenko.
The work published in Nature Physics is part of a broader effort to
develop this new imaging technique.
========================================================================== "Recently, our collaboration published a closely-related paper inPhysical Review Research, led by our graduate student, Xiang Li, where we have
shown that for somewhat simpler molecules, even the full 3D structure
can be captured," Rudenko said.
The images are an important step toward recording molecular movies, which researchers hope to use in the future to observe details of biochemical, chemical and physical reactions with high resolution.
"Seeing how well this works with the extremely short X-ray pulses from
an X-ray free-electron laser such as the European XFEL got us really
excited about the prospect of being able to take molecular movies
of photochemical reactions in complex molecules that are a bit more
exciting than simple diatomics or triatomics, and are relevant for many technological applications," Rolles said.
This realization is particularly timely since the SLAC National Lab
in Stanford is about to start its upgraded high-repetition-rate X-ray
laser, LCLS-2 this fall, which will deliver 1,000 times more pulses per
second than the current version used so far. Combing these incredibly
high repetition rates with the demonstrated Coulomb explosion imaging
technique promises to revolutionize the field of molecular "movie making," which will benefit such important technological areas as solar energy conversion, photocatalysis and artificial photosynthesis.
"We have recently received more than $1.1 million in funding from the
National Science Foundation to purchase a high repetition rate, 100-kHz femtosecond laser for our lab here at K-State," Rudenko said. "With
this new laser and the things we have learned about Coulomb explosion
imaging, we are hoping to be able to take similar movies here as well."
Rolles and Rudenko work at the J.R. Macdonald Laboratory at the K-State
physics department, which is one of the most active centers for atomic, molecular and optical physics in the United States. Similar to SLAC,
the lab is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Li is now working
at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
The work was performed by a large international research team led by
Rebecca Boll from the European XFEL, which included researchers from
the universities of Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Main and Kassel, Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, Kansas State University, the Max Planck Institutes
for Medical Research and for Nuclear Physics, the Fritz Haber Institute
of the Max Planck Society, the U.S.
accelerator center SLAC, the Hamburg Cluster of Excellence CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter, the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science at DESY,
DESY and European XFEL.
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Kansas_State_University. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Rebecca Boll, Julia M. Scha"fer, Benoi^t Richard, Kilian Fehre,
Gregor
Kastirke, Zoltan Jurek, Markus S. Scho"ffler, Malik M. Abdullah,
Nils Anders, Thomas M. Baumann, Sebastian Eckart, Benjamin Erk,
Alberto De Fanis, Reinhard Do"rner, Sven Grundmann, Patrik
Grychtol, Alexander Hartung, Max Hofmann, Markus Ilchen, Ludger
Inhester, Christian Janke, Rui Jin, Max Kircher, Katharina Kubicek,
Maksim Kunitski, Xiang Li, Tommaso Mazza, Severin Meister, Niklas
Melzer, Jacobo Montano, Valerija Music, Giammarco Nalin, Yevheniy
Ovcharenko, Christopher Passow, Andreas Pier, Nils Rennhack,
Jonas Rist, Daniel E. Rivas, Daniel Rolles, Ilme Schlichting,
Lothar Ph. H. Schmidt, Philipp Schmidt, Juliane Siebert, Nico
Strenger, Daniel Trabert, Florian Trinter, Isabel Vela-Perez,
Rene Wagner, Peter Walter, Miriam Weller, Pawel Ziolkowski,
Sang-Kil Son, Artem Rudenko, Michael Meyer, Robin Santra, Till
Jahnke. X-ray multiphoton-induced Coulomb explosion images complex
single molecules.
Nature Physics, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41567-022-01507-0 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220307113032.htm
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