Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 4: Symposium SYXD: 100 years of X-ray diffraction: from the Laue experiment to new frontiers (with KR, CPP, DF, MA, MM, GP)

BP 4.3: Invited Talk

Monday, March 26, 2012, 16:00–16:30, H 0105

Coherent Diffraction Imaging with Free-Eletron Lasers — •Massimo Altarelli — European XFEL GmbH, 22607 Hamburg

One hundred years after the discovery of x-ray diffraction from crystals, spatially coherent, ultra-brilliant and ultra-short pulses of x-ray radiation from free electron lasers (FEL's) open the way to structure solution without the hurdle of crystallization. Biological objects such as cells, viruses, possibly down to individual macromolecules and to atomic resolution, and individual nanostructures in material sciences are eligible for these novel studies. An overview of the x-ray FEL sources and their basic physical principles and properties, of the strategies for sample handling and data collection and a glimpse of the necessary algorithms to phase the diffraction patterns are given. Example of results from the soft x-ray FLASH source in Hamburg and from the Linac Coherent Light Source in Stanford are illustrated. The perspectives and the challenges of the high repetition rate (up to 27 000 pulses/s) of the European XFEL, under construction in the Hamburg region, are also briefly discussed