The ViewSonic LX700-4K RGB laser projector comes with claimed 100% coverage of the BT.2020 color gamut and ability to project up to 300” screen size

The sensitive, tunable device is made of gold nanoparticles, a rubbery polymer, and a liquid dye

The sensitive, tunable device is made of gold nanoparticles, a rubbery polymer, and a liquid dye

Although some kinks are still being worked out, the European XFEL is now giving researchers an unprecedented view of the inner workings of molecules and materials

Now witness the firepower of the (almost) fully armed and operational European X-ray Free Electron Laser

Since the Middle Ages, alchemists have sought to transmute elements, the most famous example being the long quest to turn lead into gold. Now, Princeton University theorists have proposed a different approach to this ancient ambition — just make one material behave like another. The researchers demonstrate that any two systems can be made to look alike, even if just for the smallest fraction of a second.

A multi-color light source is a significant tool for nonlinear optics experiments, pump–dump/repump–probe experiments and in other fields. Here, a novel method is proposed to create three-color pulses based on a high-gain harmonic-generation (HGHG) free-electron laser with a tilted electron bunch. In this method, the initial bunch tilt is created by transverse wakefields after the bunch passes through a corrugated structure with an off-axis orbit, and is further enlarged in a following drift section. Then the tilted bunch experiences the off-axis field of a quadrupole magnet to cool down the large transverse velocity induced before. After that, it enters an HGHG configuration adopting a transverse gradient undulator (TGU) as the radiator, where only three separated fractions of the tilted bunch will resonate at three adjacent harmonics of the seed wavelength and are enabled to emit three-color pulses simultaneously. In addition, the use of the natural transverse gradient of a normal planar undulator instead of the TGU radiator to emit three-color pulses is also studied in detail. Numerical simulations including the generation of the tilted bunch and the free-electron laser radiation confirm the validity and feasibility of this scheme both for the TGU radiator and the natural gradient in the extreme-ultraviolet waveband.

A portable IR fiber laser-heating system, optimized for X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and nuclear inelastic scattering (NIS) spectroscopy with signal collection through the radial opening of diamond anvil cells near 90°with respect to the incident X-ray beam, is presented. The system offers double-sided on-axis heating by a single laser source and zero attenuation of incoming X-rays other than by the high-pressure environment. A description of the system, which has been tested for pressures above 100 GPa and temperatures up to 3000 K, is given. The XES spectra of laser-heated Mg0.67Fe0.33O demonstrate the potential to map the iron spin state in the pressure–temperature range of the Earth's lower mantle, and the NIS spectra of laser-heated FeSi give access to the sound velocity of this candidate of a phase inside the Earth's core. This portable system represents one of the few bridges across the gap between laser heating and high-resolution X-ray spectroscopies with signal collection near 90°.

Wavefront sensing at X-ray free-electron lasers is important for quantitatively understanding the fundamental properties of the laser, for aligning X-ray instruments and for conducting scientific experimental analysis. A fractional Talbot wavefront sensor has been developed. This wavefront sensor enables measurements over a wide range of energies, as is common on X-ray instruments, with simplified mechanical requirements and is compatible with the high average power pulses expected in upcoming X-ray free-electron laser upgrades. Single-shot measurements were performed at 500 eV, 1000 eV and 1500 eV at the Linac Coherent Light Source. These measurements were applied to study both mirror alignment and the effects of undulator tapering schemes on source properties. The beamline focal plane position was tracked to an uncertainty of 0.12 mm, and the source location for various undulator tapering schemes to an uncertainty of 1 m, demonstrating excellent sensitivity. These findings pave the way to use the fractional Talbot wavefront sensor as a routine, robust and sensitive tool at X-ray free-electron lasers as well as other high-brightness X-ray sources.

The crystal structures of dirubidium potassium dysprosium bis­(vanadate), Rb2KDy(VO4)2, and caesium potassium gadolinium bis­(vanadate), Cs1.52K1.48Gd(VO4)2, were solved from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. Both compounds, synthesized by the reactive flux method, crystallize in the space group Poverline{3}m1 with the glaserite structure type. VO4 tetra­hedra are linked to DyO6 or GdO6 octa­hedra by common vertices to form sheets stacking along the c axis. The large twelve-coordinate Cs+ or Rb+ cations are sandwiched between these layers in tunnels along the a and b axes, while the K+ cations, surrounded by ten oxygen atoms, are localized in cavities.

Copper-containing nitrite reductases (CuNiRs) that convert NO2− to NO via a CuCAT–His–Cys–CuET proton-coupled redox system are of central importance in nitrogen-based energy metabolism. These metalloenzymes, like all redox enzymes, are very susceptible to radiation damage from the intense synchrotron-radiation X-rays that are used to obtain structures at high resolution. Understanding the chemistry that underpins the enzyme mechanisms in these systems requires resolutions of better than 2 Å. Here, for the first time, the damage-free structure of the resting state of one of the most studied CuNiRs was obtained by combining X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) and neutron crystallography. This represents the first direct comparison of neutron and XFEL structural data for any protein. In addition, damage-free structures of the reduced and nitrite-bound forms have been obtained to high resolution from cryogenically maintained crystals by XFEL crystallography. It is demonstrated that AspCAT and HisCAT are deprotonated in the resting state of CuNiRs at pH values close to the optimum for activity. A bridging neutral water (D2O) is positioned with one deuteron directed towards AspCAT Oδ1 and one towards HisCAT N∊2. The catalytic T2Cu-ligated water (W1) can clearly be modelled as a neutral D2O molecule as opposed to D3O+ or OD−, which have previously been suggested as possible alternatives. The bridging water restricts the movement of the unprotonated AspCAT and is too distant to form a hydrogen bond to the O atom of the bound nitrite that interacts with AspCAT. Upon the binding of NO2− a proton is transferred from the bridging water to the Oδ2 atom of AspCAT, prompting electron transfer from T1Cu to T2Cu and reducing the catalytic redox centre. This triggers the transfer of a proton from AspCAT to the bound nitrite, enabling the reaction to proceed.

Rational structure-based drug design (SBDD) relies on the availability of a large number of co-crystal structures to map the ligand-binding pocket of the target protein and use this information for lead-compound optimization via an iterative process. While SBDD has proven successful for many drug-discovery projects, its application to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) has been limited owing to extreme difficulties with their crystallization. Here, a method is presented for the rapid determination of multiple co-crystal structures for a target GPCR in complex with various ligands, taking advantage of the serial femtosecond crystallography approach, which obviates the need for large crystals and requires only submilligram quantities of purified protein. The method was applied to the human β2-adrenergic receptor, resulting in eight room-temperature co-crystal structures with six different ligands, including previously unreported structures with carvedilol and propranolol. The generality of the proposed method was tested with three other receptors. This approach has the potential to enable SBDD for GPCRs and other difficult-to-crystallize membrane proteins.

The electron linear accelerators driving modern X-ray free-electron lasers can emit intense, tunable, quasi-monochromatic terahertz (THz) transients with peak electric fields of V Å−1 and peak magnetic fields in excess of 10 T when a purpose-built, compact, superconducting THz undulator is implemented. New research avenues such as X-ray movies of THz-driven mode-selective chemistry come into reach by making dual use of the ultra-short GeV electron bunches, possible by a rather minor extension of the infrastructure.

The laser annealing process for AuNi nanoparticles has been visualized using coherent X-ray diffraction imaging (CXDI). AuNi bimetallic alloy nanoparticles, originally phase separated due to the miscibility gap, transform to metastable mixed alloy particles with rounded surface as they are irradiated by laser pulses. A three-dimensional CXDI shows that the internal part of the AuNi particles is in the mixed phase with preferred compositions at ∼29 at% of Au and ∼90 at% of Au.

Errors in the article by Opara, Martiel, Arnold, Braun, Stahlberg, Makita, David & Padeste [J. Appl. Cryst. (2017), 50, 909–918] are corrected.

For more than 60 years, researchers have tried to successfully cryopreserve (or freeze) the embryo of zebrafish, a species that is an important medical model […]

The post Gold nanotechnology and lasers used to successfully freeze fish embryos appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In a new study in which one of humankind’s most high-tech tools was used to analyze one of its most primitive, scientists have uncovered evidence […]

The post Laser beams unveil secrets locked inside primitive stone spear points appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The use of strongly bent crystals in spectrometers for pulses of a hard X-ray free-electron laser is explored theoretically. Diffraction is calculated in both dynamical and kinematical theories. It is shown that diffraction can be treated kinematically when the bending radius is small compared with the critical radius given by the ratio of the Bragg-case extinction length for the actual reflection to the Darwin width of this reflection. As a result, the spectral resolution is limited by the crystal thickness, rather than the extinction length, and can become better than the resolution of a planar dynamically diffracting crystal. As an example, it is demonstrated that spectra of the 12 keV pulses can be resolved in the 440 reflection from a 20 µm-thick diamond crystal bent to a radius of 10 cm.

The post 3-D laser scanning is helping solve ancient mysteries at the Smithsonian appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The U.S. is losing ground in a second laser revolution of highly intense, ultrafast lasers that have broad applications in manufacturing, medicine, and national security, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

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Scientists and engineers from NTU Singapore and the University of Leeds in the U.K. have created the first electrically driven topological laser, which has the ability to route light particles around corners and to cope with defects in the manufacture of the device....

Polar-bear dens, where mama bears raise young cubs during the harsh Alaska winters, could be identified using laser technology.

Researchers have created a laser powerful enough to detect minute concentrations of gases in the atmosphere or in your mouth.

A Pink Floyd soundtrack is not included with Studio Roosegaarde's newest environmental-themed light installation.

See how the machines are making work safer at one Georgia-Pacific plant in Crossett, Ark.

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