Publications by authors named "Torsten Laurus"
Controlling the formation and stoichiometric content of the desired phases of materials has become of central interest for a variety of fields. The possibility of accessing metastable states by initiating reactions by X-ray-triggered mechanisms over ultrashort time scales has been enabled by the development of X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs). Utilizing the exceptionally high-brilliance X-ray pulses from the EuXFEL, we report the synthesis of a previously unobserved yttrium hydride under high pressure, along with nonstoichiometric changes in hydrogen content as probed at a repetition rate of 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn experimental platform for dynamic diamond anvil cell (dDAC) research has been developed at the High Energy Density (HED) Instrument at the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (European XFEL). Advantage was taken of the high repetition rate of the European XFEL (up to 4.5 MHz) to collect pulse-resolved MHz X-ray diffraction data from samples as they are dynamically compressed at intermediate strain rates (≤10 s), where up to 352 diffraction images can be collected from a single pulse train.
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- Researchers are using pulsed synchrotron radiation to study the fast dynamics of complex materials, focusing on a colloidal system.
- By combining single and multiple X-ray pulses, they employ speckle correlation techniques to measure particle movements over a time range from nanoseconds to milliseconds.
- The findings match well with the expected behavior of silica nanoparticles in water and suggest potential for future X-ray studies at different synchrotron facilities.
Article Synopsis
- The European XFEL and LCLS II are powerful X-ray sources that can collect detailed data from crystals at rapid megahertz rates.
- Researchers used these X-ray pulses to gather two complete datasets from a single lysozyme crystal in less than 1 microsecond, achieving high-resolution structures.
- The comparison of these structures showed no radiation damage or significant changes, indicating that this multi-hit SFX technique can effectively capture fast structural changes in crystals.
X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) is a routine technique to study slow dynamics in complex systems at storage-ring sources. Achieving nanosecond time resolution with the conventional XPCS technique is, however, still an experimentally challenging task requiring fast detectors and sufficient photon flux. Here, the result of a nanosecond XPCS study of fast colloidal dynamics is shown by employing an adaptive gain integrating pixel detector (AGIPD) operated at frame rates of the intrinsic pulse structure of the storage ring.
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- Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) using X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) is a technique that helps in determining the structures of membrane proteins and observing changes over time, but traditional methods waste a lot of sample material.* -
- The European XFEL produces rapid femtosecond X-ray pulses, but conventional liquid delivery methods result in over 99% sample wastage due to timing differences between pulse delivery.* -
- A new microfluidic device that delivers protein crystal-laden droplets segmented by oil reduces sample waste by about 60%, allowing for the successful determination of a specific enzyme structure with previously unreported features.*
The new European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (European XFEL) is the first X-ray free-electron laser capable of delivering intense X-ray pulses with a megahertz interpulse spacing in a wavelength range suitable for atomic resolution structure determination. An outstanding but crucial question is whether the use of a pulse repetition rate nearly four orders of magnitude higher than previously possible results in unwanted structural changes due to either radiation damage or systematic effects on data quality. Here, separate structures from the first and subsequent pulses in the European XFEL pulse train were determined, showing that there is essentially no difference between structures determined from different pulses under currently available operating conditions at the European XFEL.
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- The Adaptive Gain Integrating Pixel Detector (AGIPD) is a specialized X-ray imager created for the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL), featuring a unique design that enhances its sensitivity and performance.
- It incorporates an adaptive gain amplifier for each pixel, allowing it to achieve exceptionally low noise levels and a wide dynamic range when detecting X-ray photons.
- Since its installation in August 2017, AGIPD has been successfully used in experiments at the XFEL facility, demonstrating its capability to capture high-speed images in a burst mode while matching the facility's frame rate.
Article Synopsis
- The European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL) is the first of its kind to deliver X-ray pulses at megahertz pulse rates, vastly improving on previous technologies.
- Researchers have successfully measured high-quality diffraction data at these new pulse rates, validating the laser's capabilities.
- Two complete datasets were collected: one from lysozyme and another from a β-lactamase complex, demonstrating the potential for advanced structural analysis and dynamic measurements in molecular science.