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Related Concept Videos

X-ray Imaging01:24

X-ray Imaging

11.1K
German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (1845–1923) was experimenting with electrical current when he discovered that a mysterious and invisible "ray" would pass through his flesh but leave an outline of his bones on a screen coated with a metal compound. In 1895, Röntgen made the first durable record of the internal parts of a living human: an "X-ray" image (as it came to be called) of his wife’s hand. Scientists worldwide quickly began their own experiments with...
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X-ray Crystallography02:18

X-ray Crystallography

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The size of the unit cell and the arrangement of atoms in a crystal may be determined from measurements of the diffraction of X-rays by the crystal, termed X-ray crystallography.
Diffraction
Diffraction is the change in the direction of travel experienced by an electromagnetic wave when it encounters a physical barrier whose dimensions are comparable to those of the wavelength of the light. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths about as long as the distance between neighboring...
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X-ray Diffraction of Biological Samples01:10

X-ray Diffraction of Biological Samples

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X-ray diffraction or XRD is an analytical tool that utilizes X-rays to study ordered structures such as crystalline organic and inorganic samples, polycrystalline materials, proteins, carbohydrates, and drugs.
According to Bragg's law, when X-rays strike the sample positioned on a stage, the rays are  scattered by the electron clouds around the sample atoms. The  X-ray diffraction or scattering is caused by constructive interference of the X-ray waves that reflect off the internal...
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Determination of Crystal Structures01:29

Determination of Crystal Structures

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In the late 1800s, the revelation that light extended beyond visible wavelengths led to the discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Roentgen. Recognized as high-energy electromagnetic radiation with short wavelengths, X-rays prompted exploration into their interaction with crystals. Max von Laue proposed in 1912 that the periodic arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules in crystals would cause them to diffract X-rays, a hypothesis confirmed through experiments with copper sulfate and zinc sulfide...
122
Interference and Diffraction02:18

Interference and Diffraction

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Interference is a characteristic phenomenon exhibited by waves. When two electromagnetic waves interact with their peaks and troughs coinciding, a resulting wave with enhanced amplitude is produced. This is known as constructive interference. In this case, the two waves interacting are in phase with each other.
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Phase Contrast and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy01:26

Phase Contrast and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy

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Phase-Contrast Microscopes
In-phase-contrast microscopes, interference between light directly passing through a cell and light refracted by cellular components is used to create high-contrast, high-resolution images without staining. It is the oldest and simplest type of microscope that creates an image by altering the wavelengths of light rays passing through the specimen. Altered wavelength paths are created using an annular stop in the condenser. The annular stop produces a hollow cone of...
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Measurement of X-ray Beam Coherence along Multiple Directions Using 2-D Checkerboard Phase Grating
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Beyond crystallography: diffractive imaging using coherent x-ray light sources.

Jianwei Miao1, Tetsuya Ishikawa2, Ian K Robinson3

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. miao@physics.ucla.edu.

Science (New York, N.Y.)
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

New coherent imaging methods and x-ray sources are revolutionizing 3D structure determination for noncrystalline materials, overcoming limitations of traditional X-ray crystallography.

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Area of Science:

  • Physics, chemistry, materials science, nanoscience, geology, and biology.

Background:

  • X-ray crystallography has been a cornerstone of scientific discovery for a century, enabling routine 3D atomic structure determination of crystalline samples.
  • However, many important materials and biological samples are noncrystalline, limiting their structural analysis by traditional methods.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review recent revolutionary advances in coherent imaging and x-ray sources.
  • To highlight the transformation of 21st-century x-ray imaging techniques for analyzing noncrystalline materials.

Main Methods:

  • Development of new coherent imaging techniques.
  • Harnessing advanced coherent x-ray light sources.

Main Results:

  • Enabling 3D structure determination for previously inaccessible noncrystalline samples.
  • Expanding the scope of structural analysis across diverse scientific fields.

Conclusions:

  • Coherent imaging methods and advanced x-ray sources are overcoming the limitations of traditional X-ray crystallography.
  • These advancements are opening new avenues for structural determination in a wide range of scientific disciplines.