In-situ X-ray imaging of nanostructures

This project is carried out in cooperation with Dr. Andreas Schropp and Prof. Dr. Christian Schroer at DESY, and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Vogt at KTH.

In recent years, materials scientists have developed a wide variety of approaches to precisely control the composition, shape and size of nanomaterials. However, the rational control over the nucleation and growth of multiple species in a solution is still demanding. The classical nucleation theory does often not describe well the formation of nanoparticles and their transformation into more complex nanostructures. Mechanistic information of these transformation steps is thus of special interest in order to achieve complete control over the final product. X-ray imaging is a powerful tool to take a look at transformation dynamics at the nanoscale.

X-ray ptychography is a scanning coherent diffraction imaging (CXDI) technique that allows phase-retrieval of the recorded diffraction patterns by overlapping scan points. With recent setups, a spatial resolution of tens of nanometers can be reached even when imaging weakly scattering nano objects. In this project, we aim at applying ptychography to image the formation dynamics of metallic and oxidic nanostructures in solution with the appropriate time resolution.

Imaging of liquids typically involves the use of a bulky sample environment. In the follow-up project XStereoVision within the Röntgen-Ångström Cluster (RÅC), we aim to overcome this by developing a new stereoscopic scanning X-ray imaging technique with an enhanced depth resolution. By illuminating the sample with two nano-focused X-ray beams simultaneously at different angles, we expect to obtain 3D structural information from inside the sample environment.

Learn more about the XStereoVision project here: www.xstereo.org

Conact: Lukas Grote, Karolina Stachnik, Sarah-Alexandra Hussak