X-rays articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Resonant X-ray excitation of the  45Sc nuclear isomeric state was achieved by irradiation of a Sc-metal foil with 12.4-keV photon pulses from a state-of-the-art X-ray free-electron laser, allowing a high-precision determination of the transition energy.

    • Yuri Shvyd’ko
    • , Ralf Röhlsberger
    •  & Tomasz Kolodziej

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Suitably shaped X-ray pulses are used to coherently steer the quantum dynamics of atoms’ nuclei rather than their electrons, with few-zeptosecond temporal stability of the phase control.

    • Kilian P. Heeg
    • , Andreas Kaldun
    •  & Jörg Evers

  • Letter |

    Excitation to the second excited state of 229Th is used to populate the metastable state 229mTh, enabling accurate determination of the isomer’s energy, half-life and excitation linewidth.

    • Takahiko Masuda
    • , Akihiro Yoshimi
    •  & Koji Yoshimura

  • Letter |

    Femtosecond time-resolved X-ray diffraction reveals that in the ultrafast demagnitization of ferromagnetic iron, about 80% of the angular momentum lost from the spins is transferred to the lattice on a sub-picosecond timescale.

    • C. Dornes
    • , Y. Acremann
    •  & S. L. Johnson

  • Letter |

    All-inorganic perovskite nanocrystals containing caesium and lead provide low-cost, flexible and solution-processable scintillators that are highly sensitive to X-ray irradiation and emit radioluminescence that is colour-tunable across the visible spectrum.

    • Qiushui Chen
    • , Jing Wu
    •  & Xiaogang Liu

  • Letter |

    A data-analytical approach that can extract the history and dynamics of complex systems from noisy snapshots on timescales much shorter than the uncertainty with which the data were recorded is described; the approach is demonstrated by extracting the dynamics on the few-femtosecond timescale from experimental data recorded with 300-femtosecond timing uncertainty.

    • R. Fung
    • , A. M. Hanna
    •  & A. Ourmazd

  • Letter |

    Crystal lattice disorder, which gives rise to a continuous diffraction pattern, is exploited to determine the structure of the integral membrane protein complex photosystem II to a higher resolution than could be achieved using Bragg diffraction alone.

    • Kartik Ayyer
    • , Oleksandr M. Yefanov
    •  & Henry N. Chapman

  • Letter |

    A small-angle X-ray scattering computed tomography method that reduces the amount of data that needs to be collected and analysed to reconstruct the three-dimensional scattering distribution in reciprocal space of a three-dimensional sample in real space is demonstrated by measuring the orientation of collagen fibres within a human tooth.

    • Florian Schaff
    • , Martin Bech
    •  & Franz Pfeiffer

  • Letter |

    The resonant interaction between γ-ray photons and an ensemble of nuclei with a periodically modulated resonant transition frequency can be used to control the waveforms of the photons coherently; for example, individual γ-ray photons can be converted into a coherent, ultrashort pulse train or into a double pulse.

    • Farit Vagizov
    • , Vladimir Antonov
    •  & Olga Kocharovskaya

  • Letter |

    Opaque tissues provide a challenge for live imaging of Xenopus laevis development; a problem solved by in vivo time-lapse X-ray microtomography that is shown to provide a high-resolution three-dimensional view of structural changes and dynamics of gastrulation, and that is applied to identify and analyse new aspects of gastrulation in frog embryos.

    • Julian Moosmann
    • , Alexey Ershov
    •  & Ralf Hofmann

  • News & Views |

    Use of an ultra-high-intensity X-ray laser has allowed X-ray and optical waves to be mixed in a diamond sample. The effect paves the way to studying the microscopic optical response of materials on an atomic scale. See Article p.603

    • Nina Rohringer

  • Article |

    A free-electron laser provides a sufficiently intense source of X-rays to allow X-ray and optical wave mixing, here demonstrated by measuring the induced charge density and associated microscopic fields in single-crystal diamond.

    • T. E. Glover
    • , D. M. Fritz
    •  & J. B. Hastings

  • Comment |

    As the field celebrates its 50th birthday, Martin Elvis asks how to keep this unique window into the Universe open.

    • Martin Elvis

  • News |

    Compact device promises to open window on chemical reactions in the lab.

    • Katherine Bourzac

  • News & Views |

    Means to access and manipulate X-rays have been developing at a slow pace. But quantum-optical effects in ensembles of nuclei offer a way to tackle the control of this energetic radiation. See Letter p.199

    • Bernhard W. Adams

  • News & Views |

    With the laser just over half a century old, another dream of the pioneers of this light source has been fulfilled. An atomic X-ray laser with unprecedentedly high photon energy has been demonstrated. See Letter p.488

    • Jon Marangos

  • News & Views |

    X-rays were discovered more than 100 years ago. They have since become a staple tool for medicine and science, so researchers are continuing their efforts to find innovative ways to produce them.

    • Stefan Kneip

  • Article |

    With the start-up of the first X-ray free-electron laser, a new era has begun in dynamical studies of atoms. Here the facility is used to study the fundamental nature of the electronic response in free neon atoms. During a single X-ray pulse, they sequentially eject all their ten electrons to produce fully stripped neon. The authors explain this electron-stripping in a straightforward model, auguring favourably for further studies of interactions of X-rays with more complex systems.

    • L. Young
    • , E. P. Kanter
    •  & M. Messerschmidt

  • News & Views |

    The world's first kiloelectronvolt X-ray laser produces such a high flux of photons that atoms can be 'cored'. In other words, the light source can knock out both the electrons of an atom's innermost shell.

    • Justin Wark

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