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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 4: X-ray FELs (joint session MO/A)
A 4.6: Talk
Monday, March 14, 2022, 15:15–15:30, MO-H5
Control of bionanoparticles with electrical fields — •Jannik Lübke1, 2, 3, Lena Worbs1, 2, Armando Estillore1, Amit Samanta1, and Jochen Küpper1, 2, 3 — 1Center for Free-Electron Laser Science CFEL, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany — 2Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany — 3Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Single-particle imaging (SPI) experiments at free-electron lasers (FELs) promise high-resolution imaging of the structure and dynamics of nanoparticles and macromolecules. Guiding sample particles into the focus of an FEL, diffraction patterns of individual particles can be collected. Sufficient amounts of patterns of identical nanoparticles are needed to overcome the inherently small signal-to-noise ratio and reconstruct the underlying 3D structure. Optimized delivery of identical nanoparticles is key to efficient and successful SPI experiments. Here, we present an approach for the production of purified high-density beams of a broad variety of biological nanoparticles, demonstrated on a large protein. We establish control through electric fields, aiming at charge state or conformational state selectivity. This is especially relevant for soft biological samples, such as proteins or protein complexes, which in uncontrolled environment are prone to structural instability.