Mainz 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 4: Novel Experimental Approaches and Novel Theoretical and Computational Approaches
MO 4.2: Vortrag
Montag, 2. März 2026, 17:30–17:45, P 105
Generation of controlled, dense and shock-frozen protein beams — •Jingxuan He1,2,3, Lena Worbs1,2, Surya Kiran Peravali1,4, Armando D. Estillore1, Amit K. Samanta1,3, and Jochen Küpper1,2,3 — 1Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany — 2Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Germany — 3Center for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI), Universität Hamburg, Germany — 4Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität,Germany
Single-particle x-ray diffractive imaging (SPI) is a powerful method for probing the structures of gas-phase nanoparticles [1]. Despite the successes in artificial nanoparticles [2] and large viruses [3], its application to proteins remains challenging due to low hit rates, weak scattering, and structural instability. Here, we present a buffer-gas-cell-aerodynamic-lens-stack (BGC-ALS) that is capable of producing shock-frozen and focused protein beams. This approach delivers a large number of hydrated proteins into the tiny x-ray focus, making their native-like structures more likely to be probed. Using strong-field ionization with a velocity-map-imaging spectrometer, we characterized the BGC-ALS and demonstrated its applicability to a broad range of macromolecules including proteins. Such protein beams are promising not only for structural determiniation using SPI but also for pump-probe experiments on protein dynamics.
[1] Barty et al. Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 9, 415-435 (2013)
[2] Ayyer et al. Optica 8, 15 (2020)
[3] Seibert et al. Nature 470, 78-81 (2011)
Keywords: Single particle imaging; Buffer gas cell; aerodynamic lens; strong field ionization; mass spectrometry