Paper ID: 2208.04044

Three-Dimensional Coherent Diffractive Imaging of Isolated Faceted Nanostructures

Alessandro Colombo, Simon Dold, Patrice Kolb, Nils Bernhardt, Patrick Behrens, Jonathan Correa, Stefan Düsterer, Benjamin Erk, Linos Hecht, Andrea Heilrath, Robert Irsig, Norman Iwe, Jakob Jordan, Björn Kruse, Bruno Langbehn, Bastian Manschwetus, Franklin Martinez, Karl-Heinz Meiwes-Broer, Kevin Oldenburg, Christopher Passow, Christian Peltz, Mario Sauppe, Fabian Seel, Rico Mayro P. Tanyag, Rolf Treusch, Anatoli Ulmer, Saida Walz, Thomas Fennel, Ingo Barke, Thomas Möller, Bernd von Issendorff, Daniela Rupp

The structure and dynamics of isolated nanosamples in free flight can be directly visualized via single-shot coherent diffractive imaging using the intense and short pulses of X-ray free-electron lasers. Wide-angle scattering images even encode three-dimensional morphological information of the samples, but the retrieval of this information remains a challenge. Up to now, effective three-dimensional morphology reconstructions from single shots were only achieved via fitting with highly constrained models, requiring a priori knowledge about possible geometrical shapes. Here we present a much more generic imaging approach. Relying on a model that allows for any sample morphology described by a convex polyhedron, we reconstruct wide-angle diffraction patterns from individual silver nanoparticles. In addition to known structural motives with high symmetries, we retrieve imperfect shapes and agglomerates which were not accessible previously. Our results open new routes towards true 3D structure determination of single nanoparticles and, ultimately, 3D movies of ultrafast nanoscale dynamics.

Submitted: Aug 8, 2022