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Soft‐X‐ray damage to biological samples
Author(s) -
FUJISAKI H.,
TAKAHASHI S.,
OHZEKI H.,
SUGISAKI K.,
KONDO H.,
NAGATA H.,
KATO H.,
ISHIWATA S.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2818.1996.130412.x
Subject(s) - water window , microscope , optics , x ray , condenser (optics) , microscopy , resolution (logic) , wavelength , photon , flux (metallurgy) , laser , biological specimen , materials science , optical microscope , x ray optics , physics , scanning electron microscope , light source , artificial intelligence , computer science , metallurgy
X‐ray damage to biological samples was investigated in the wavelength region of 2.7–5 nm, which overlaps the so‐called ‘water window’, the wavelength range of 2.4–4.3 nm usually used in X‐ray microscopy. Yeast cells and myofibrils were chosen as representatives of whole cell samples and motile protein systems, respectively. The samples were exposed to X‐rays using an apparatus composed mainly of a laser‐plasma X‐ray source, a Wolter mirror condenser, and a sample cell. The yeast cells lost their dye exclusion ability when the X‐ray flux was higher than 1 × 10 6 photons μm −2 , while the myofibrils lost contractility when the X‐ray flux was higher than 4 × 10 5 photons μm −2 . These X‐ray fluxes are lower than the flux required for the X‐ray microscope observation of biological samples at a resolution higher than that of light microscopes.