H. C. Poon

Extraction of Fast Changes in the Structure of a Disordered Ensemble of Photoexcited Biomolecules

Using pump-probe experiments of varying time intervals between pump and probe, the method of time-resolved crystallography has given many insights into the fast time variations of crystallized molecules as a result of photoexcitation. We show here that quantities extractable from multiple diffraction patterns of dissolved molecules in random orientations, as measured using powerful ultrashort pulses of X-rays, also contain information about structural changes of a molecule on photoexcitation.

Convergent-beam low energy electron diffraction (CBLEED) and the measurement of surface dipole layers.

We propose the formation of LEED patterns using a highly convergent beam forming a probe of nanometer dimensions. A reflection rocking curve may then be recorded in many diffraction orders simultaneously. Multiple scattering calculations show that the intensity variations within these rocking curves is as sensitive to the parameters describing the surface dipole layer as conventional I/V scans. However the data may be collected from areas sufficiently small to avoid defects and surface steps, radiation damage controlled by use of low voltages, and the information depth selected by choice of the (constant) voltage. We briefly discuss also the application of this method to oxides and the formation of atomic-resolution scanning images in an idealized instrument in which coherent diffracted LEED orders overlap.