Single-Shot Diffractive Imaging with a Table-Top Femtosecond Soft X-Ray Laser-Harmonics Source

A. Ravasio (1) , D. Gauthier (1) , F. R. N. C. Maia (2) , M. Billon (1) , J.-P. Caumes (1) , D. Garzella (1) , M. Geleoc (1) , O. Gobert (1) , Jean-François Hergott (1) , A.-M. Pena (1) , H. Perez (1) , B. Carré (1) , E. Bourhis (3) , J. Gierak (3) , Ali Madouri (3) , D. Mailly (3) , B. Schiedt (3) , Marta Fajardo (4) , Julien Gautier (5) , Philippe Zeitoun (5) , P. H. Bucksbaum (6) , J. Hajdu (2, 6) , H. Merdji (1, 6)

1 SPAM - Service des Photons, Atomes et Molécules
2 Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics [Uppsala]
3 LPN - Laboratoire de photonique et de nanostructures
4 GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear
5 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
6 SLAC - SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Coherent x-ray diffractive imaging is a powerful method for studies on nonperiodic structures on the nanoscale. Access to femtosecond dynamics in major physical, chemical, and biological processes requires single-shot diffraction data. Up to now, this has been limited to intense coherent pulses from a free electron laser. Here we show that laser-driven ultrashort x-ray sources offer a comparatively inexpensive alternative. We present measurements of single-shot diffraction patterns from isolated nano-objects with a single 20 fs pulse from a table-top high-harmonic x-ray laser. Images were reconstructed with a resolution of 119 nm from the single shot and 62 nm from multiple shots.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; Optics [physics.optics]

A. Ravasio, D. Gauthier, F. R. N. C. Maia, M. Billon, J.-P. Caumes, et al.. Single-Shot Diffractive Imaging with a Table-Top Femtosecond Soft X-Ray Laser-Harmonics Source. Physical Review Letters, 2009, 103 (2), pp.028104. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.028104⟩. ⟨hal-00508895⟩