X-ray fluorescence analysis of metal distributions in cryogenic biological samples using large-acceptance-angle SDD detection and continuous scanning at the Hard X-ray Micro/Nano-Probe beamline P06 at PETRA III.

A new Rococo 2 X-ray fluorescence detector was implemented into the cryogenic sample environment at the Hard X-ray Micro/Nano-Probe beamline P06 at PETRA III, DESY, Hamburg, Germany. A four sensor-field cloverleaf design is optimized for the investigation of planar samples and operates in a backscattering geometry resulting in a large solid angle of up to 1.1 steradian. The detector, coupled with the Xspress 3 pulse processor, enables measurements at high count rates of up to 106 counts per second per sensor. The measured energy resolution of ∼129 eV (Mn Kα at 10000 counts s-1) is only minimally impaired at the highest count rates. The resulting high detection sensitivity allows for an accurate determination of trace element distributions such as in thin frozen hydrated biological specimens. First proof-of-principle measurements using continuous-movement 2D scans of frozen hydrated HeLa cells as a model system are reported to demonstrate the potential of the new detection system.

Single pulse coherence measurements in the water window at the free-electron laser FLASH.

The spatial coherence of free-electron laser radiation in the water window spectral range was studied, using the third harmonic (λ<(3rd) = 2.66 nm) of DESY's Free-electron LASer in Hamburg (FLASH). Coherent single pulse diffraction patterns of 1,2-Dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) multilamellar lipid stacks have been recorded. The intensity histogram of the speckle pattern around the first lamellar Bragg peak, corresponding to the d = 5 nm periodicity of the stack, reveals an average number of transverse modes of M¯ = 3.0 of the 3rd harmonic. Using the lipid stack as a 'monochromator', pulse-to-pulse fluctuations in the third harmonic λ(3rd) have been determined to be 0.033 nm.

Spatial and temporal coherence properties of single free-electron laser pulses.

The experimental characterization of the spatial and temporal coherence properties of the free-electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH) at a wavelength of 8.0 nm is presented. Double pinhole diffraction patterns of single femtosecond pulses focused to a size of about 10×10 µm(2) were measured. A transverse coherence length of 6.2 ± 0.9 µm in the horizontal and 8.7 ± 1.0 µm in the vertical direction was determined from the most coherent pulses. Using a split and delay unit the coherence time of the pulses produced in the same operation conditions of FLASH was measured to be 1.75 ± 0.01 fs. From our experiment we estimated the degeneracy parameter of the FLASH beam to be on the order of 10(10) to 10(11), which exceeds the values of this parameter at any other source in the same energy range by many orders of magnitude.