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Updated: May 24, 2026

On-Chip Crystallization and Large-Scale Serial Diffraction at Room Temperature
Published on: March 11, 2022
Three-dimensional structure of a single colloidal crystal grain studied by coherent x-ray diffraction
J Gulden1, O M Yefanov, A P Mancuso
1Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, D-22607 Hamburg, Germany.
Abstract:
A coherent x-ray diffraction experiment was performed on an isolated colloidal crystal grain at the coherence beamline P10 at PETRA III. Using azimuthal rotation scans the three-dimensional (3D) scattered intensity from the sample in the far-field was measured. It includes several Bragg peaks as well as the coherent interference around these peaks. The analysis of the scattered intensity reveals the presence of plane defects in a single grain of the colloidal sample. We confirm these findings by model simulations. In these simulations we also analyze the experimental conditions required to phase the 3D diffraction pattern from a single colloidal grain. This approach has the potential to produce a high resolution image of the sample revealing its inner structure, with possible structural defects.
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