Simple convergent-nozzle aerosol injector for single-particle diffractive imaging with X-ray free-electron lasers

3D printed devices and infrastructure for liquid sample delivery at the European XFEL

The Sample Environment and Characterization (SEC) group of the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (EuXFEL) develops sample delivery systems for the various scientific instruments, including systems for the injection of liquid samples that enable serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography (SFX) and single-particle imaging (SPI) experiments, among others. For rapid prototyping of various device types and materials, sub-micrometre precision 3D printers are used to address the specific experimental conditions of SFX and SPI by providing a large number of devices with reliable performance. This work presents the current pool of 3D printed liquid sample delivery devices, based on the two-photon polymerization (2PP) technique. These devices encompass gas dynamic virtual nozzles (GDVNs), mixing-GDVNs, high-viscosity extruders (HVEs) and electrospray conical capillary tips (CCTs) with highly reproducible geometric features that are suitable for time-resolved SFX and SPI experiments at XFEL facilities. Liquid sample injection setups and infrastructure on the Single Particles, Clusters, and Biomolecules and Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SPB/SFX) instrument are described, this being the instrument which is designated for biological structure determination at the EuXFEL.

Photoemission from Free Particles and Droplets

Intriguing properties of photoemission from free, unsupported particles and droplets were predicted nearly 50 years ago, though experiments were a technical challenge. The last few decades have seen a surge of research in the field, due to advances in aerosol technology (generation, characterization, and transfer into vacuum), the development of photoelectron imaging spectrometers, and advances in vacuum ultraviolet and ultrafast light sources. Particles and droplets offer several advantages for photoemission studies. For example, photoemission spectra are dependent on the particle's size, shape, and composition, providing a wealth of information that allows for the retrieval of genuine electronic properties of condensed phase. In this review, with a focus on submicrometer-sized, dielectric particles and droplets, we explain the utility of photoemission from such systems, summarize several applications from the literature, and present some thoughts on future research directions.

Virus Structures by X-Ray Free-Electron Lasers

Until recently X-ray crystallography has been the standard technique for virus structure determinations. Available X-ray sources have continuously improved over the decades, leading to the realization of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs). They provide high-intensity femtosecond X-ray pulses, which allow for new kinds of experiments by making use of the diffraction-before-destruction principle. By overcoming classical dose constraints, they at least in principle allow researchers to perform X-ray virus structure determination for single particles at room temperature. Simultaneously, the availability of XFELs led to the development of the method of serial femtosecond crystallography, where a crystal structure is determined from the measurement of hundreds to thousands of microcrystals. In the case of virus crystallography this method does not require freezing of the crystals and allows researchers to perform experiments under non-equilibrium conditions (e.g., by laser-induced temperature jumps or rapid chemical mixing), which is currently not possible with electron microscopy.

Microfluidic sample delivery for serial crystallography using XFELs

Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) with X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) is an emerging field for structural biology. One of its major impacts lies in the ability to reveal the structure of complex proteins previously inaccessible with synchrotron-based crystallography techniques and allowing time-resolved studies from femtoseconds to seconds. The nature of this serial technique requires new approaches for crystallization, data analysis, and sample delivery. With continued advancements in microfabrication techniques, various developments have been reported in the past decade for innovative and efficient microfluidic sample delivery for crystallography experiments using XFELs. This article summarizes the recent developments in microfluidic sample delivery with liquid injection and fixed-target approaches, which allow exciting new research with XFELs. Graphical abstract.

Rayleigh-scattering microscopy for tracking and sizing nanoparticles in focused aerosol beams

Ultra-bright femtosecond X-ray pulses generated by X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) can be used to image high-resolution structures without the need for crystallization. For this approach, aerosol injection has been a successful method to deliver 70-2000 nm particles into the XFEL beam efficiently and at low noise. Improving the technique of aerosol sample delivery and extending it to single proteins necessitates quantitative aerosol diagnostics. Here a lab-based technique is introduced for Rayleigh-scattering microscopy allowing us to track and size aerosolized particles down to 40 nm in diameter as they exit the injector. This technique was used to characterize the 'Uppsala injector', which is a pioneering and frequently used aerosol sample injector for XFEL single-particle imaging. The particle-beam focus, particle velocities, particle density and injection yield were measured at different operating conditions. It is also shown how high particle densities and good injection yields can be reached for large particles (100-500 nm). It is found that with decreasing particle size, particle densities and injection yields deteriorate, indicating the need for different injection strategies to extend XFEL imaging to smaller targets, such as single proteins. This work demonstrates the power of Rayleigh-scattering microscopy for studying focused aerosol beams quantitatively. It lays the foundation for lab-based injector development and online injection diagnostics for XFEL research. In the future, the technique may also find application in other fields that employ focused aerosol beams, such as mass spectrometry, particle deposition, fuel injection and three-dimensional printing techniques.

Assessing uncertainties in x-ray single-particle three-dimensional reconstruction

Modern technology for producing extremely bright and coherent x-ray laser pulses provides the possibility to acquire a large number of diffraction patterns from individual biological nanoparticles, including proteins, viruses, and DNA. These two-dimensional diffraction patterns can be practically reconstructed and retrieved down to a resolution of a few angstroms. In principle, a sufficiently large collection of diffraction patterns will contain the required information for a full three-dimensional reconstruction of the biomolecule. The computational methodology for this reconstruction task is still under development and highly resolved reconstructions have not yet been produced. We analyze the expansion-maximization-compression scheme, the current state of the art approach for this very challenging application, by isolating different sources of resolution-limiting factors. Through numerical experiments on synthetic data we evaluate their respective impact. We reach conclusions of relevance for handling actual experimental data, and we also point out certain improvements to the underlying estimation algorithm. We also introduce a practically applicable computational methodology in the form of bootstrap procedures for assessing reconstruction uncertainty in the real data case. We evaluate the sharpness of this approach and argue that this type of procedure will be critical in the near future when handling the increasing amount of data.

Reproducibility of single protein explosions induced by X-ray lasers

Single particle imaging (SPI) using X-ray pulses has become increasingly attainable with the advent of high-intensity free electron lasers. Eliminating the need for crystallized samples enables structural studies of molecules previously inaccessible by conventional crystallography. While this emerging technique already demonstrates substantial promise, some obstacles need to be overcome before SPI can reach its full potential. One such problem is determining the spatial orientation of the sample at the time of X-ray interaction. Existing solutions rely on diffraction data and are computationally demanding and sensitive to noise. In this in silico study, we explore the possibility of aiding these methods by mapping the ion distribution as the sample undergoes a Coulomb explosion following the intense ionization. By detecting the ions ejected from the fragmented sample, the orientation of the original sample should be possible to determine. Knowledge of the orientation has been shown earlier to be of substantial advantage in the reconstruction of the original structure. 150 explosions of each of twelve separate systems - four polypeptides with different amounts of surface bound water - were simulated with molecular dynamics (MD) and the average angular distribution of carbon and sulfur ions was investigated independently. The results show that the explosion maps are reproducible in both cases, supporting the idea that orientation information is preserved. Additional water seems to restrict the carbon ion trajectories further through a shielding mechanism, making the maps more distinct. For sulfurs, water has no significant impact on the trajectories, likely due to their higher mass and greater ionization cross section, indicating that they could be of particular interest. Based on these findings, we conclude that explosion data can aid spatial orientation in SPI experiments and could substantially improve the capabilities of the novel technique.

Femtosecond X-ray diffraction from an aerosolized beam of protein nanocrystals

High-resolution Bragg diffraction from aerosolized single granulovirus nanocrystals using an X-ray free-electron laser is demonstrated. The outer dimensions of the in-vacuum aerosol injector components are identical to conventional liquid-microjet nozzles used in serial diffraction experiments, which allows the injector to be utilized with standard mountings. As compared with liquid-jet injection, the X-ray scattering background is reduced by several orders of magnitude by the use of helium carrier gas rather than liquid. Such reduction is required for diffraction measurements of small macromolecular nanocrystals and single particles. High particle speeds are achieved, making the approach suitable for use at upcoming high-repetition-rate facilities.

XFELs for structure and dynamics in biology

The development and application of the free-electron X-ray laser (XFEL) to structure and dynamics in biology since its inception in 2009 are reviewed. The research opportunities which result from the ability to outrun most radiation-damage effects are outlined, and some grand challenges are suggested. By avoiding the need to cool samples to minimize damage, the XFEL has permitted atomic resolution imaging of molecular processes on the 100 fs timescale under near-physiological conditions and in the correct thermal bath in which molecular machines operate. Radiation damage, comparisons of XFEL and synchrotron work, single-particle diffraction, fast solution scattering, pump-probe studies on photosensitive proteins, mix-and-inject experiments, caged molecules, pH jump and other reaction-initiation methods, and the study of molecular machines are all discussed. Sample-delivery methods and data-analysis algorithms for the various modes, from serial femtosecond crystallo-graphy to fast solution scattering, fluctuation X-ray scattering, mixing jet experiments and single-particle diffraction, are also reviewed.

Visualizing aerosol-particle injection for diffractive-imaging experiments

Delivering sub-micrometer particles to an intense x-ray focus is a crucial aspect of single-particle diffractive-imaging experiments at x-ray free-electron lasers. Enabling direct visualization of sub-micrometer aerosol particle streams without interfering with the operation of the particle injector can greatly improve the overall efficiency of single-particle imaging experiments by reducing the amount of time and sample consumed during measurements. We have developed in-situ non-destructive imaging diagnostics to aid real-time particle injector optimization and x-ray/particle-beam alignment, based on laser illumination schemes and fast imaging detectors. Our diagnostics are constructed to provide a non-invasive rapid feedback on injector performance during measurements, and have been demonstrated during diffraction measurements at the FLASH free-electron laser.

High-intracavity-power thin-disk laser for the alignment of molecules

We propose a novel approach for strong alignment of gas-phase molecules for experiments at arbitrary repetition rates. A high-intracavity-power continuous-wave laser will provide the necessary ac electric field of 10(10)-10(11) W/cm(2). We demonstrate thin-disk lasers based on Yb:YAG and Yb:Lu(2)O(3) in a linear high-finesse resonator providing intracavity power levels in excess of 100 kW at pump power levels on the order of 50 W. The multi-longitudinal-mode operation of this laser avoids spatial-hole burning even in a linear standing-wave resonator. The system will be scaled up as in-vacuum system to allow for the generation of fields of 10(11) W/cm(2). This system will be directly applicable for experiments at modern X-ray light sources, such as synchrotrons or free-electron lasers, which operate at various very high repetition rates. This would allow to record molecular movies through temporally resolved diffractive imaging of fixed-in-space molecules, as well as the spectroscopic investigation of combined X-ray-NIR strong-field effects of atomic and molecular systems.

Possibilities for serial femtosecond crystallography sample delivery at future light sources

Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) uses X-ray pulses from free-electron laser (FEL) sources that can outrun radiation damage and thereby overcome long-standing limits in the structure determination of macromolecular crystals. Intense X-ray FEL pulses of sufficiently short duration allow the collection of damage-free data at room temperature and give the opportunity to study irreversible time-resolved events. SFX may open the way to determine the structure of biological molecules that fail to crystallize readily into large well-diffracting crystals. Taking advantage of FELs with high pulse repetition rates could lead to short measurement times of just minutes. Automated delivery of sample suspensions for SFX experiments could potentially give rise to a much higher rate of obtaining complete measurements than at today's third generation synchrotron radiation facilities, as no crystal alignment or complex robotic motions are required. This capability will also open up extensive time-resolved structural studies. New challenges arise from the resulting high rate of data collection, and in providing reliable sample delivery. Various developments for fully automated high-throughput SFX experiments are being considered for evaluation, including new implementations for a reliable yet flexible sample environment setup. Here, we review the different methods developed so far that best achieve sample delivery for X-ray FEL experiments and present some considerations towards the goal of high-throughput structure determination with X-ray FELs.