Simple convergent-nozzle aerosol injector for single-particle diffractive imaging with X-ray free-electron lasers

R A Kirian; S Awel; N Eckerskorn; H Fleckenstein; M Wiedorn; L Adriano; S Bajt; M Barthelmess; R Bean; K R Beyerlein; L M G Chavas; M Domaracky; M Heymann; D A Horke; J Knoska; M Metz; A Morgan; D Oberthuer; N Roth; T Sato; P L Xavier; O Yefanov; A V Rode; J Küpper; H N Chapman

doi:10.1063/1.4922648

Simple convergent-nozzle aerosol injector for single-particle diffractive imaging with X-ray free-electron lasers

Struct Dyn. 2015 Jun 19;2(4):041717. doi: 10.1063/1.4922648. eCollection 2015 Jul.

Authors

R A Kirian, S Awel, N Eckerskorn¹, H Fleckenstein², M Wiedorn, L Adriano³, S Bajt³, M Barthelmess², R Bean⁴, K R Beyerlein², L M G Chavas², M Domaracky, M Heymann², D A Horke², J Knoska, M Metz, A Morgan², D Oberthuer², N Roth², T Sato², P L Xavier, O Yefanov², A V Rode¹, J Küpper, H N Chapman

Affiliations

¹ Laser Physics Centre, Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University , Canberra, Australia.
² Center for Free-Electron Laser Science , DESY, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
³ Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY , 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
⁴ European XFEL GmbH , 22761 Hamburg, Germany.

Abstract

A major challenge in high-resolution x-ray free-electron laser-based coherent diffractive imaging is the development of aerosol injectors that can efficiently deliver particles to the peak intensity of the focused X-ray beam. Here, we consider the use of a simple convergent-orifice nozzle for producing tightly focused beams of particles. Through optical imaging we show that 0.5 μm particles can be focused to a full-width at half maximum diameter of 4.2 μm, and we demonstrate the use of such a nozzle for injecting viruses into a micro-focused soft-X-ray FEL beam.