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Coherent x-ray scattering

We use coherent x-rays produced by 4th generation synchrotrons and free-electron lasers to study mesoscale structures and ultrafast dynamics in soft matter.

The main focus is on fundamental problems in chemistry and physics with biological relevance that often require replenishable sample delivery using liquid microjets and aerosol beams. Applications include coherent x-ray scattering of water structure and ice nucleation upon deep supercooling, coherent diffractive imaging of viruses, cells and proteins as well as serial femtosecond crystallography and x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy of proteins in crystals and aqueous solutions.

Recent publications:

  • N.-E. Christou et al., Time-resolved crystallography captures light-driven DNA repair, Science 382(6674), 1015–1020 (2023); doi.org/10.1126/science.adj4270

  • B. Hammarström, T. J. Lane, H. Batili, R. Sierra, M. Wiklund, J. A. Sellberg, Acoustic Focusing of Protein Crystals for In-Line Monitoring and Up-Concentration during Serial Crystallography. Analytical Chemistry 94(37), 12645–12656 (2022); doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c01701  (Open Access).

  • N. Esmaeildoost, O. Jönsson, T. A. McQueen, M. Ladd-Parada, H. Laksmono, N.-T. D. Loh, J. A. Sellberg, Heterogeneous Ice Growth in Micron-Sized Water Droplets Due to Spontaneous Freezing. Crystals 12(1), 65 (2022); doi.org/10.1063/4.0000185  (Open Access).
  • N. Esmaeildoost, H. Pathak, A. Späh, T. J. Lane, K. H. Kim, C. Yang, K. Amann-Winkel, M. Ladd-Parada, F. Perakis, J. Koliyadu, A. R. Oggenfuss, P. J. M. Johnson, Y. Deng, S. Zerdane, R. Mankowsky, P. Beaud, H. T. Lemke, A. Nilsson, J. A. Sellberg, Anomalous temperature dependence of the experimental x-ray structure factor of supercooled water. Journal of Chemical Physics 155, 214501 (2021); doi.org/10.1063/5.0075499  (Open Access).

  • H. Pathak, A. Späh, N. Esmaeildoost, J. A. Sellberg, K. H. Kim, F. Perakis, K. Amann-Winkel, M. Ladd-Parada, Jayanath Koliyadu, T. J. Lane, C. Yang, H. T. Lemke, A. R. Oggenfuss, P. J. M. Johnson, Y. Deng, S. Zerdane, R. Mankowsky, P. Beaud, A. Nilsson, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 118(6), e2018379118 (2021); doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018379118  (Open Access).

Fig. 1. Coherent diffraction pattern from a single virion of the Melbourne virus obtained at the AMO instrument, at LCLS, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Fig. 2. 3D reconstruction of the Melbourne virus from 260 high-quality diffraction patterns, similar to the one showed in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3. Ultrafast x-ray probing of supercooled water droplets that are rapidly cooled in vacuum and eventually crystallize to ice.

Group members and main projects

Jonas Sellberg
Jonas Sellberg
Associate Professor, Principal investigator
Profile

Coherent x-ray scattering of water and ice

Sample delivery for serial protein crystallography

Björn Hammarström
Researcher

Coherent diffractive imaging of viruses, cells and proteins

Previous group members

Niloofar Esmaeildoost
PhD student
Olof Jönsson
Post-doctoral researcher
Jayanath Koliyadu
Post-doctoral researcher
Sylvain Maclot
Researcher
Martin Svenda
Researcher
Måns Junestrand
MSc student
Arezu Sehati
MSc student
Caroline Dahlqvist
MSc student
Alfred Nilsson
BSc student
Vidar Elsin
BSc student