Atomistic three-dimensional coherent x-ray imaging of nonbiological systems

Ho, Phay J. and Knight, Chris and Tegze, Miklos and Faigel, Gyula and Bostedt, C. and Young, L. (2016) Atomistic three-dimensional coherent x-ray imaging of nonbiological systems. Physical Review A, 94 (6). pp. 1-14. ISSN 2469-9926

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Abstract

We computationally study the resolution limits for three-dimensional coherent x-ray diffractive imaging of heavy, nonbiological systems using Ar clusters as a prototype. We treat electronic and nuclear dynamics on an equal footing and remove the frozen-lattice approximation often used in electronic damage studies. We explore the achievable resolution as a function of pulse parameters (fluence level, pulse duration, and photon energy) and particle size. The contribution of combined lattice and electron dynamics is not negligible even for 2 fs pulses, and the Compton scattering is less deleterious than in biological systems for atomic-scale imaging. Although free-electron scattering represents a significant background, we find that recovery of the original structure is in principle possible with 3 °A resolution for particles of 11 nm diameter.

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