Rayleigh-scattering microscopy for tracking and sizing nanoparticles in focused aerosol beams.

ABSTRACT: Ultra-bright femtosecond X-ray pulses generated by X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) can be used to image high-resolution structures without the need for crystallization. For this approach, aerosol injection has been a successful method to deliver 70-2000 nm particles into the XFEL beam efficiently and at low noise. Improving the technique of aerosol sample delivery and extending it to single proteins necessitates quantitative aerosol diagnostics. Here a lab-based technique is introduced for Rayleigh-scattering microscopy allowing us to track and size aerosolized particles down to 40 nm in diameter as they exit the injector. This technique was used to characterize the 'Uppsala injector', which is a pioneering and frequently used aerosol sample injector for XFEL single-particle imaging. Th

SUBMITTER: Hantke MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6211534 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature