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Now showing 1 - 10 of 11
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    Reference shape effects on Fourier transform holography
    (Washington, DC : Soc., 2022) Malm, Erik; Pfau, Bastian; Schneider, Michael; Günther, Christian M.; Hessing, Piet; Büttner, Felix; Mikkelsen, Anders; Eisebitt, Stefan
    Soft-x-ray holography which utilizes an optics mask fabricated in direct contact with the sample, is a widely applied x-ray microscopy method, in particular, for investigating magnetic samples. The optics mask splits the x-ray beam into a reference wave and a wave to illuminate the sample. The reconstruction quality in such a Fourier-transform holography experiment depends primarily on the characteristics of the reference wave, typically emerging from a small, high-aspect-ratio pinhole in the mask. In this paper, we study two commonly used reference geometries and investigate how their 3D structure affects the reconstruction within an x-ray Fourier holography experiment. Insight into these effects is obtained by imaging the exit waves from reference pinholes via high-resolution coherent diffraction imaging combined with three-dimensional multislice simulations of the x-ray propagation through the reference pinhole. The results were used to simulate Fourier-transform holography experiments to determine the spatial resolution and precise location of the reconstruction plane for different reference geometries. Based on our findings, we discuss the properties of the reference pinholes with view on application in soft-x-ray holography experiments.
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    Quantification of silver nanoparticle uptake and distribution within individual human macrophages by FIB/SEM slice and view
    (London : Biomed Central, 2017-3-21) Guehrs, Erik; Schneider, Michael; Günther, Christian M.; Hessing, Piet; Heitz, Karen; Wittke, Doreen; López-Serrano Oliver, Ana; Jakubowski, Norbert; Plendl, Johanna; Eisebitt, Stefan; Haase, Andrea
    Background: Quantification of nanoparticle (NP) uptake in cells or tissues is very important for safety assessment. Often, electron microscopy based approaches are used for this purpose, which allow imaging at very high resolution. However, precise quantification of NP numbers in cells and tissues remains challenging. The aim of this study was to present a novel approach, that combines precise quantification of NPs in individual cells together with high resolution imaging of their intracellular distribution based on focused ion beam/ scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) slice and view approaches. Results: We quantified cellular uptake of 75 nm diameter citrate stabilized silver NPs (Ag 75 Cit) into an individual human macrophage derived from monocytic THP-1 cells using a FIB/SEM slice and view approach. Cells were treated with 10 μg/ml for 24 h. We investigated a single cell and found in total 3138 ± 722 silver NPs inside this cell. Most of the silver NPs were located in large agglomerates, only a few were found in clusters of fewer than five NPs. Furthermore, we cross-checked our results by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and could confirm the FIB/SEM results. Conclusions: Our approach based on FIB/SEM slice and view is currently the only one that allows the quantification of the absolute dose of silver NPs in individual cells and at the same time to assess their intracellular distribution at high resolution. We therefore propose to use FIB/SEM slice and view to systematically analyse the cellular uptake of various NPs as a function of size, concentration and incubation time.
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    Experimental evaluation of signal-to-noise in spectro-holography via modified uniformly redundant arrays in the soft x-ray and extreme ultraviolet spectral regime
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2017-05-08) Günther, Christian M.; Guehrs, Erik; Schneider, Michael; Pfau, Bastian; von Korff Schmising, Clemens; Geilhufe, Jan; Schaffert, Stefan; Eisebitt, Stefan
    We present dichroic x-ray lensless magnetic imaging by Fourier transform holography with an extended reference scheme via a modified uniformly redundant array (mURA). Holographic images of magnetic domains simultaneously generated by a single pinhole reference as well as by a mURA reference are compared with respect to the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as a function of exposure time. We apply this approach for spectro-holographic imaging of ferromagnetic domain patterns in Co/Pt multilayer films. Soft x-rays with wavelengths of 1.59 nm (Co L3 absorption edge) and 20.8 nm (Co M2,3 absorption edges) are used for image formation and to generate contrast via x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. For a given exposure time, the mURA-based holography allows to decouple the reconstruction SNR from the spatial resolution. For 1.59 nm wavelength, the reconstruction via the extended reference scheme shows no significant loss of spatial resolution compared to the single pinhole reference. In contrast, at 20.8 nm wavelength the single pinhole reveals some very intricate features which are lost in the image generated by the mURA, although overall a high-quality image is generated. The SNR-advantage of the mURA scheme is most notable when the hologram has to be encoded with few photons, while errors associated with the increased complexity of the reconstruction process reduce the advantage for high-photon-number experiments.
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    Author Correction: Ultrafast X-ray imaging of the light-induced phase transition in VO2 (Nature Physics, (2022), 10.1038/s41567-022-01848-w)
    (Basingstoke : Nature Publishing Group, 2023) Johnson, Allan S.; Perez-Salinas, Daniel; Siddiqui, Khalid M.; Kim, Sungwon; Choi, Sungwook; Volckaert, Klara; Majchrzak, Paulina E.; Ulstrup, Søren; Agarwal, Naman; Hallman, Kent; Haglund, Richard F.; Günther, Christian M.; Pfau, Bastian; Eisebitt, Stefan; Backes, Dirk; Maccherozzi, Francesco; Fitzpatrick, Ann; Dhesi, Sarnjeet S.; Gargiani, Pierluigi; Valvidares, Manuel; Artrith, Nongnuch; de Groot, Frank; Choi, Hyeongi; Jang, Dogeun; Katoch, Abhishek; Kwon, Soonnam; Park, Sang Han; Kim, Hyunjung; Wall, Simon E.
    In the version of this article initially published, the Acknowledgements was missing thanks from Soonnam Kwon for support from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2020R1A2C1007416). The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.
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    In situ single-shot diffractive fluence mapping for X-ray free-electron laser pulses
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2018) Schneider, Michael; Günther, Christian M.; Pfau, Bastian; Capotondi, Flavio; Manfredda, Michele; Zangrando, Marco; Mahne, Nicola; Raimondi, Lorenzo; Pedersoli, Emanuele; Naumenko, Denys; Eisebitt, Stefan
    Free-electron lasers (FELs) in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and X-ray regime opened up the possibility for experiments at high power densities, in particular allowing for fluence-dependent absorption and scattering experiments to reveal non-linear light-matter interactions at ever shorter wavelengths. Findings of such non-linear effects are met with tremendous interest, but prove difficult to understand and model due to the inherent shot-to-shot fluctuations in photon intensity and the often structured, non-Gaussian spatial intensity profile of a focused FEL beam. Presently, the focused beam is characterized and optimized separately from the actual experiment. Here, we present the simultaneous measurement of XUV diffraction signals from solid samples in tandem with the corresponding single-shot spatial fluence distribution on the actual sample. Our in situ characterization scheme enables direct monitoring of the sample illumination, providing a basis to optimize and quantitatively understand FEL experiments.
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    Coherent correlation imaging for resolving fluctuating states of matter
    (London : Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2023) Klose, Christopher; Büttner, Felix; Hu, Wen; Mazzoli, Claudio; Litzius, Kai; Battistelli, Riccardo; Lemesh, Ivan; Bartell, Jason M.; Huang, Mantao; Günther, Christian M.; Schneider, Michael; Barbour, Andi; Wilkins, Stuart B.; Beach, Geoffrey S. D.; Eisebitt, Stefan; Pfau, Bastian
    Fluctuations and stochastic transitions are ubiquitous in nanometre-scale systems, especially in the presence of disorder. However, their direct observation has so far been impeded by a seemingly fundamental, signal-limited compromise between spatial and temporal resolution. Here we develop coherent correlation imaging (CCI) to overcome this dilemma. Our method begins by classifying recorded camera frames in Fourier space. Contrast and spatial resolution emerge by averaging selectively over same-state frames. Temporal resolution down to the acquisition time of a single frame arises independently from an exceptionally low misclassification rate, which we achieve by combining a correlation-based similarity metric1,2 with a modified, iterative hierarchical clustering algorithm3,4. We apply CCI to study previously inaccessible magnetic fluctuations in a highly degenerate magnetic stripe domain state with nanometre-scale resolution. We uncover an intricate network of transitions between more than 30 discrete states. Our spatiotemporal data enable us to reconstruct the pinning energy landscape and to thereby explain the dynamics observed on a microscopic level. CCI massively expands the potential of emerging high-coherence X-ray sources and paves the way for addressing large fundamental questions such as the contribution of pinning5–8 and topology9–12 in phase transitions and the role of spin and charge order fluctuations in high-temperature superconductivity13,14.
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    Ultrafast Demagnetization Dominates Fluence Dependence of Magnetic Scattering at Co M Edges
    (College Park, Md. : APS, 2020) Schneider, Michael; Pfau, Bastian; Günther, Christian M.; von Korff Schmising, Clemens; Weder, David; Geilhufe, Jan; Perron, Jonathan; Capotondi, Flavio; Pedersoli, Emanuele; Manfredda, Michele; Hennecke, Martin; Vodungbo, Boris; Lüning, Jan; Eisebitt, Stefan
    We systematically study the fluence dependence of the resonant scattering cross-section from magnetic domains in Co/Pd-based multilayers. Samples are probed with single extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses of femtosecond duration tuned to the Co M3,2 absorption resonances using the FERMI@Elettra free-electron laser. We report quantitative data over 3 orders of magnitude in fluence, covering 16  mJ/cm2/pulse to 10 000  mJ/cm2/pulse with pulse lengths of 70 fs and 120 fs. A progressive quenching of the diffraction cross-section with fluence is observed. Compression of the same pulse energy into a shorter pulse—implying an increased XUV peak electric field—results in a reduced quenching of the resonant diffraction at the Co M3,2 edge. We conclude that the quenching effect observed for resonant scattering involving the short-lived Co 3p core vacancies is noncoherent in nature. This finding is in contrast to previous reports investigating resonant scattering involving the longer-lived Co 2p states, where stimulated emission has been found to be important. A phenomenological model based on XUV-induced ultrafast demagnetization is able to reproduce our entire set of experimental data and is found to be consistent with independent magneto-optical measurements of the demagnetization dynamics on the same samples.
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    Generating circularly polarized radiation in the extreme ultraviolet spectral range at the free-electron laser FLASH
    (Melville, NY : American Institute of Physics, 2017) von Korff Schmising, Clemens; Weder, David; Noll, Tino; Pfau, Bastian; Hennecke, Martin; Strüber, Christian; Radu, Ilie; Schneider, Michael; Staeck, Steffen; Günther, Christian M.; Lüning, Jan; Merhe, Alaa el dine; Buck, Jens; Hartmann, Gregor; Viefhaus, Jens; Treusch, Rolf; Eisebitt, Stefan
    A new device for polarization control at the free electron laser facility FLASH1 at DESY has been commissioned for user operation. The polarizer is based on phase retardation upon reflection off metallic mirrors. Its performance is characterized in three independent measurements and confirms the theoretical predictions of efficient and broadband generation of circularly polarized radiation in the extreme ultraviolet spectral range from 35 eV to 90 eV. The degree of circular polarization reaches up to 90% while maintaining high total transmission values exceeding 30%. The simple design of the device allows straightforward alignment for user operation and rapid switching between left and right circularly polarized radiation.
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    Quantitative hyperspectral coherent diffractive imaging spectroscopy of a solid-state phase transition in vanadium dioxide
    (Washington, DC [u.a.] : Assoc., 2021) Johnson, Allan S.; Conesa, Jordi Valls; Vidas, Luciana; Perez-Salinas, Daniel; Günther, Christian M.; Pfau, Bastian; Hallman, Kent A.; Haglund, Richard F.; Eisebitt, Stefan; Wall, Simon
    Solid-state systems can host a variety of thermodynamic phases that can be controlled with magnetic fields, strain, or laser excitation. Many phases that are believed to exhibit exotic properties only exist on the nanoscale, coexisting with other phases that make them challenging to study, as measurements require both nanometer spatial resolution and spectroscopic information, which are not easily accessible with traditional x-ray spectromicroscopy techniques. Here, we use coherent diffractive imaging spectroscopy (CDIS) to acquire quantitative hyperspectral images of the prototypical quantum material vanadium oxide across the vanadium L2,3 and oxygen K x-ray absorption edges with nanometer-scale resolution. We extract the full complex refractive indices of the monoclinic insulating and rutile conducting phases of VO2 from a single sample and find no evidence for correlation-driven phase transitions. CDIS will enable quantitative full-field x-ray spectromicroscopy for studying phase separation in time-resolved experiments and other extreme sample environments where other methods cannot operate.
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    Multi-color imaging of magnetic Co/Pt heterostructures
    (Melville, NY : AIP Publishing LLC, 2017) Willems, Felix; von Korff Schmising, Clemens; Weder, David; Günther, Christian M.; Schneider, Michael; Pfau, Bastian; Meise, Sven; Guehrs, Erik; Geilhufe, Jan; Merhe, Alaa El Din; Jal, Emmanuelle; Vodungbo, Boris; Lüning, Jan; Mahieu, Benoit; Capotondi, Flavio; Pedersoli, Emanuele; Gauthier, David; Manfredda, Michele; Eisebitt, Stefan
    We present an element specific and spatially resolved view of magnetic domainsin Co/Pt heterostructures in the extreme ultraviolet spectral range. Resonantsmall-angle scattering and coherent imaging with Fourier-transform holographyreveal nanoscale magnetic domain networks via magnetic dichroism of Co at theM2,3 edges as well as via strong dichroic signals at the O2,3 and N6,7 edges of Pt.We demonstrate for the first time simultaneous, two-color coherent imaging at afree-electron laser facility paving the way for a direct real space access toultrafast magnetization dynamics in complex multicomponent material systems.