What is it about?
The effects of using intense radiation pulses from an X-ray laser were systematically investigated for samples of photosystem II, which is a protein complex involved in the water-splitting reaction during photosynthesis. Small broadenings of the manganese Kβ X-ray emission spectra were observed for the most intense beams, but these changes are small when compared to those measured throughout the photocatalytic cycle.
Featured Image
Photo by Anthony Lee on Unsplash
Why is it important?
When measuring the atomic and electronic structure of materials using X-ray diffraction and X-ray spectroscopies, very intense pulses from an X-ray laser are more and more commonly used. These measurements are capable of investigating chemical process while they are occurring, but it is important to ensure that the use of these very intense beams do not affect the samples in any undesirable ways. This study confirm the sensitivity and robustness of X-ray laser-based X-ray emission spectroscopy as an electronic structure probe of metalloproteins, and provides a benchmark for future studies of these important compounds.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Effects of x-ray free-electron laser pulse intensity on the Mn Kβ1,3 x-ray emission spectrum in photosystem II—A case study for metalloprotein crystals and solutions, Structural Dynamics, November 2021, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/4.0000130.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
