The prospect of single particle imaging with atomic resolution is one of the scientific drivers for the development of X-ray free-electron lasers. The assumption since the beginning has been that damage to the sample caused by intense X-ray pulses is one of the limiting factors for achieving subnanometer X-ray imaging of single particles and that X-ray pulses need to be as short as possible. Based on the molecular dynamics simulations of proteins in X-ray fields of various durations (5 fs, 25 fs, and 50 fs), we show that the noise in the diffracted signal caused by radiation damage is less than what can be expected from other sources, such as sample inhomogeneity and X-ray shot-to-shot variations. These findings show a different aspect of the feasibility of high-resolution single particle imaging using free-electron lasers, where employing X-ray pulses of longer durations could still provide a useful diffraction signal above the noise due to the Coulomb explosion.

中文翻译：

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辐射损伤是否是X射线自由电子激光器进行高分辨率单粒子成像的限制因素？

具有原子分辨率的单粒子成像的前景是X射线自由电子激光器发展的科学动力之一。从一开始就一直认为，强烈的X射线脉冲对样品造成的损害是实现单个颗粒的亚纳米X射线成像的限制因素之一，并且X射线脉冲必须尽可能短。基于不同持续时间（5 fs，25 fs和50 fs）的X射线场中蛋白质的分子动力学模拟，我们表明，由辐射损伤引起的衍射信号中的噪声小于其他方法可以预期的噪声。来源，例如样品的不均匀性和X射线镜头之间的差异。这些发现显示了使用自由电子激光进行高分辨率单粒子成像的可行性的不同方面，