Mainz 2026 – scientific programme
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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 29: Cluster and Nanoparticles (joint session MO/A)
MO 29.4: Talk
Thursday, March 5, 2026, 16:15–16:30, P 105
An optical laser blade setup for the detection of isolated nanoparticles — •Constantin Koch1, José Gómez Torres1, David Biner1, Indrani Dey1, Frederic Ussling1, Linos Hecht1, Yves Acremann1, Isabelle Bollier1, Alessandro Colombo1, Ehsan Hassanpour1, Katharina Kolatzki1, Changji Pan1, Mario Sauppe1, Lea Schüpke1, Björn Senfftleben1, Hanchao Tang2, Arnab Choudhury2, Bruce Yoder2, Ruth Signorell2, and Daniela Rupp1 — 1D-PHYS, ETH Zurich — 2D-CHAB, ETH Zurich
Coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) of free-flying water nanodroplets with our high-intensity extreme ultraviolet (XUV) beamline requires optimal overlap of droplet beam and micrometer-sized XUV focus. So far, this was difficult to achieve because of the small hitrates and large variability of the single-shot signals from XUV diffraction. We present the design, setup and comissioning of an optical laser blade, that makes nanoparticles in the interaction region directly visible and enables a quantitative characterization of the water source. A continuous-wave 450 nm laser is shaped into a thin horizontal laser sheet crossing the droplet beam. The scattered light is recorded with a CMOS camera adapted for vacuum compatibility. We observe clear signal from single droplets in the few hundred nm range and achieved a fast and reliable alignment procedure. The consistent signal also allowed us identify previously overlooked problems in the injector system and to obtain a three-dimensional density distribution of the droplet beam in our vacuum chamber.
Keywords: Aerosol; Ice nucleation; Alignment diagnostics; Single-droplet imaging