Sample Injectors for Biological Imaging with X-ray Free Electron Lasers

Program Description

Recent scientific and technological breakthroughs have moved x-ray microscopy from a futuristic possibility to an emerging reality: Seminal experiments at the LCLS X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) have now demonstrated that biological nanocrystals can be imaged with atomic resolution using femtosecond XFEL pulses. Essential to all such measurements is a means of transferring the sample from bulk solution into the microscopic focal spot of the XFEL while maintaining the sample species in a known conformation. This generally requires that the sample species remain fully solvated throughout the injection process. In addition, the XFEL imposes strict requirements of its own on the injection process, often including injection into a vacuum environment. This talk will outline briefly the approaches to XFEL sample injection that have been developed over the last few years, with particular emphasis on injection via microscopic and even nanoscopic liquid free-jet streams.