Tomographic femtosecond x-ray diffractive imaging

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Crystallography
• Imaging Science

Background:

• Femtosecond X-ray diffraction (FXD) is a powerful technique for studying dynamic processes.
• Determining the orientation of samples in FXD experiments is crucial for accurate structural analysis.
• The phase problem remains a significant challenge in many diffraction-based imaging techniques.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a new method for obtaining multiple projections of a target from a single radiation pulse.
• To enable the determination of relative orientation between successive targets.
• To circumvent the need for solving the phase problem in diffraction experiments.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a single radiation pulse to acquire three simultaneous projections.
• Analyzing projections of the autocorrelation function of the target's charge-density distribution.
• Relating principal axes of the charge-density distribution to accessible autocorrelation function projections.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a method to obtain three simultaneous projections from a single pulse.
• Showed that principal axes can be determined from autocorrelation function projections.
• Established a pathway to determine relative orientation of successive targets.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method offers a new approach for 3D imaging in diffraction experiments.
• It eliminates the need to solve the phase problem for orientation determination.
• Potential applications include time-resolved tomographic pump-probe experiments and time-series imaging.