Heidelberg 2015 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 10: Poster: Interaction with strong or short laser pulses

A 10.12: Poster

Monday, March 23, 2015, 17:00–19:00, C/Foyer

Charge Transfer in XFEL Irradiated Biomolecules — •Abraham Camacho Garibay, Ulf Saalmann, and Jan-Michael Rost — Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden

The possibility of single-molecule-diffractive imaging using intense XFEL pulses was suggested [1] long before these machines were operational. In this pioneering work the possibility of "diffraction before destruction" was demonstrated to be feasible, yet requiring rather high intensities and very short pulses. The important effect of charge transfer [2], neglected in this first approach, has been proven to drive a coulomb explosion were different elements escape the molecular environment in a non-homogeneous way. Here we calculate the electron and ion dynamics for molecules in an XFEL pulses, where we observe a systematic electron migration from hydrogen atoms (intrinsically abundant in biological environments) to heavier, more absorbing and scattering elements. This gives rise to the stabilization of the molecular backbone which allows the use of longer pulses and/or weaker intensities in imaging experiments.

[1] Neutze et. al., Nature 406, 2000

[2] DiCintio et. al., PRL 111, 2013