Skip to main content
To KTH's start page

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

Sample delivery for serial protein crystallography

Visualizing the focusing effect of ultrasound on lysozyme crystals in microfluidics
Fig. 4. Injection with ultrasound off (left) and ultrasound on (right) for a 100 μm capillary union with 11 μm protein crystals.

News coverage of the LEAPS-INNOV project at MAX IV

Björn Hammarström Researcher bham@kth.se
Varun Kumar Rajendran Post-doctoral researcher vkraj@kth.se
Patricia López Ramírez PhD student palr2@kth.se
Tuva Eriksson Viklund Research engineer tuvav@kth.se
Lou Gripentoft Research engineer loug@kth.se

 Coherent x-ray scattering of water and ice

News coverage of the molecular water science call at EuXFEL

Revealing structural motifs that control ice growth at SPB/SFX

Coherent diffractive imaging of viruses, cells and proteins

Previous group members

Niloofar Esmaeildoost PhD student Optical and x-ray studies of ice growth in water
Olof Jönsson Post-doctoral researcher
Jayanath Koliyadu Post-doctoral researcher
Sylvain Maclot Researcher
Martin Svenda Researcher
Måns Junestrand MSc student Acoustic Focusing of Lysozyme Crystals