Femtosecond x-ray diffraction reveals a liquid-liquid phase transition in phase-change materials.

In phase-change memory devices, a material is cycled between glassy and crystalline states. The highly temperature-dependent kinetics of its crystallization process enables application in memory technology, but the transition has not been resolved on an atomic scale. Using femtosecond x-ray diffraction and ab initio computer simulations, we determined the time-dependent pair-correlation function of phase-change materials throughout the melt-quenching and crystallization process. We found a liquid-liquid phase transition in the phase-change materials Ag4In3Sb67Te26 and Ge15Sb85 at 660 and 610 kelvin, respectively. The transition is predominantly caused by the onset of Peierls distortions, the amplitude of which correlates with an increase of the apparent activation energy of diffusivity. This reveals a relationship between atomic structure and kinetics, enabling a systematic optimization of the memory-switching kinetics.

Femtosecond X-ray coherent diffraction of aligned amyloid fibrils on low background graphene.

Here we present a new approach to diffraction imaging of amyloid fibrils, combining a free-standing graphene support and single nanofocused X-ray pulses of femtosecond duration from an X-ray free-electron laser. Due to the very low background scattering from the graphene support and mutual alignment of filaments, diffraction from tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) filaments and amyloid protofibrils is obtained to 2.7 Å and 2.4 Å resolution in single diffraction patterns, respectively. Some TMV diffraction patterns exhibit asymmetry that indicates the presence of a limited number of axial rotations in the XFEL focus. Signal-to-noise levels from individual diffraction patterns are enhanced using computational alignment and merging, giving patterns that are superior to those obtainable from synchrotron radiation sources. We anticipate that our approach will be a starting point for further investigations into unsolved structures of filaments and other weakly scattering objects.

Fixed-target protein serial microcrystallography with an x-ray free electron laser.

We present results from experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) demonstrating that serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) can be performed to high resolution (~2.5 Å) using protein microcrystals deposited on an ultra-thin silicon nitride membrane and embedded in a preservation medium at room temperature. Data can be acquired at a high acquisition rate using x-ray free electron laser sources to overcome radiation damage, while sample consumption is dramatically reduced compared to flowing jet methods. We achieved a peak data acquisition rate of 10 Hz with a hit rate of ~38%, indicating that a complete data set could be acquired in about one 12-hour LCLS shift using the setup described here, or in even less time using hardware optimized for fixed target SFX. This demonstration opens the door to ultra low sample consumption SFX using the technique of diffraction-before-destruction on proteins that exist in only small quantities and/or do not produce the copious quantities of microcrystals required for flowing jet methods.

Femtosecond X-ray diffraction from two-dimensional protein crystals.

X-ray diffraction patterns from two-dimensional (2-D) protein crystals obtained using femtosecond X-ray pulses from an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) are presented. To date, it has not been possible to acquire transmission X-ray diffraction patterns from individual 2-D protein crystals due to radiation damage. However, the intense and ultrafast pulses generated by an XFEL permit a new method of collecting diffraction data before the sample is destroyed. Utilizing a diffract-before-destroy approach at the Linac Coherent Light Source, Bragg diffraction was acquired to better than 8.5 Šresolution for two different 2-D protein crystal samples each less than 10 nm thick and maintained at room temperature. These proof-of-principle results show promise for structural analysis of both soluble and membrane proteins arranged as 2-D crystals without requiring cryogenic conditions or the formation of three-dimensional crystals.

Sub-nanometer flattening of 45 cm long, 45 actuator x-ray deformable mirror.

We have built a 45 cm long x-ray deformable mirror (XDM) of super-polished single-crystal silicon that has 45 actuators along the tangential axis. After assembly, the surface height error was 19 nm rms. With use of high-precision visible-light metrology and precise control algorithms, we have actuated the XDM and flattened its entire surface to 0.7 nm rms controllable figure error. This is, to our knowledge, the first sub-nanometer active flattening of a substrate longer than 15 cm.

7 Å resolution in protein two-dimensional-crystal X-ray diffraction at Linac Coherent Light Source.

Membrane proteins arranged as two-dimensional crystals in the lipid environment provide close-to-physiological structural information, which is essential for understanding the molecular mechanisms of protein function. Previously, X-ray diffraction from individual two-dimensional crystals did not represent a suitable investigational tool because of radiation damage. The recent availability of ultrashort pulses from X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) has now provided a means to outrun the damage. Here, we report on measurements performed at the Linac Coherent Light Source XFEL on bacteriorhodopsin two-dimensional crystals mounted on a solid support and kept at room temperature. By merging data from about a dozen single crystal diffraction images, we unambiguously identified the diffraction peaks to a resolution of 7 Å, thus improving the observable resolution with respect to that achievable from a single pattern alone. This indicates that a larger dataset will allow for reliable quantification of peak intensities, and in turn a corresponding increase in the resolution. The presented results pave the way for further XFEL studies on two-dimensional crystals, which may include pump-probe experiments at subpicosecond time resolution.