Author: Yefanov, O.
Paper Title Page
WEPSO34 Proposal for a Scheme to Generate a 10 tw Power Level, Femtosecond X-ray Pulses for Bio-imaging of Single Protein Molecules at the European XFEL 574
 
  • V. Kocharyan, G. Geloni, E. Saldin, S. Serkez, I. Zagorodnov
    DESY, Hamburg, Germany
  • O. Yefanov
    CFEL, Hamburg, Germany
 
  Crucial parameters for bio-imaging experiments are photon energy range, peak power and pulse duration. For a fixed resolution, the largest diffraction signals are achieved at the longest wavelength supporting that resolution. In order to perform these experiments at the European XFEL, we propose to use a novel configuration combining self-seeding and undulator tapering techniques with the emittance-spoiler method. Experiments at the LCLS confirmed the feasibility of these three techniques. Their combination allows obtaining a dramatic increase the XFEL output peak power and a shortening of the photon pulse duration to levels sufficient for performing bio-imaging of single protein molecules at the optimal photon-energy range between 3 keV and 5 keV. We show here that it is possible to achieve up to a 100-fold increase in peak-power of the X-ray pulses at the European XFEL: the X-ray beam would be delivered in 10 fs-long pulses with 50 mJ energy each at a photon energy around 4 keV. We confirm by simulations that one can achieve diffraction before destruction with a resolution of 0.25 nm resolution.  
 
WEPSO63 Extension of SASE Bandwidth up to 2 % as a Way to Increase Number of Indexed Images for Protein Structure Determination by Femtosecond X-Ray Nanocrystallography at the European XFEL 661
 
  • S. Serkez, V. Kocharyan, E. Saldin, I. Zagorodnov
    DESY, Hamburg, Germany
  • G. Geloni
    XFEL. EU, Hamburg, Germany
  • O. Yefanov
    CFEL, Hamburg, Germany
 
  Experiments at the LCLS confirmed the feasibility of femtosecond nanocrystallography for protein structure determination at near-atomic resolution. These experiments rely on X-ray SASE pulses with a few microradians angular spread, and about 0.2 % bandwidth. By indexing individual patterns and then summing all counts in all partial reflections for each index it is possible to extract the square modulus of the structure factor. The number of indexed images and the SASE bandwidth are linked, as an increasing number of Bragg spots per individual image requires an increasing spectral bandwidth. This calls for a few percent SASE bandwidth. Based on start-to-end simulations of the European XFEL baseline, we demonstrate that it is possible to achieve up to a 10-fold increase of the electron energy chirp by strongly compressing a 0.25 nC electron bunch. This allows for data collection with a 2 % SASE bandwidth, a few mJ radiation pulse energy and a few fs-pulse duration, which would increase the efficiency of protein determination at the European XFEL. We prove this concept with simulations of photosystem-I nanocrystals, with a size of about 300 nm.