KOTOBUKI-1 apparatus for cryogenic coherent X-ray diffraction imaging

We have developed an experimental apparatus named KOTOBUKI-1 for use in coherent X-ray diffraction imaging experiments of frozen-hydrated non-crystalline particles at cryogenic temperature. For cryogenic specimen stage with small positional fluctuation for a long exposure time of more than several minutes, we here use a cryogenic pot cooled by the evaporation cooling effect for liquid nitrogen. In addition, a loading device is developed to bring specimens stored in liquid nitrogen to the specimen stage in vacuum. The apparatus allows diffraction data collection for frozen-hydrated specimens at 66 K with a positional fluctuation of less than 0.4 mu m and provides an experimental environment to easily exchange specimens from liquid nitrogen storage to the specimen stage. The apparatus was developed and utilized in diffraction data collection of non-crystalline particles with dimensions of mu m from material and biological sciences, such as metal colloid particles and chloroplast, at BL29XU of SPring-8. Recently, it has been applied for single-shot diffraction data collection of non-crystalline particles with dimensions of sub-mu m using X-ray free electron laser at BL3 of SACLA. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.