The past 70 years of muscle research have profoundly shaped our current understanding of the structure and function of muscle. X-ray diffraction became a key method in its structural analysis and yielded valuable insights into the molecular arrangement of the contraction apparatus. This work employs an extension of the X-ray diffraction methodology, scanning X-ray diffraction, for structural imaging of biological cells and tissue. With this technique periodicites in a structure on the order of several nanometers can be detected and, by raster scanning of the X-ray beam over the sample, imag...

Understanding the intricate details of muscle contraction has a long-standing tradition in biophysical research. X-ray diffraction has been one of the key techniques to resolve the nanometer-sized molecular machinery involved in force generation. Modern, powerful X-ray sources now provide billions of X-ray photons in time intervals as short as microseconds, enabling fast time-resolved experiments that shed further light on the complex relationship between muscle structure and function. Another approach harnesses this power by repeatedly performing such an experiment at different locations in a sample. With millions of repeated exposures in a single experiment, X-ray diffraction can seamlessly be turned into a raster imaging method, neatly combining real- and reciprocal space information. This thesis has focused on the advancement of this scanning scheme and its application to soft biological tissue, in particular muscle tissue. Special emphasis was placed on the extraction of meaningful, quantitative structural parameters such as the interfilament distance of the actomyosin lattice in cardiac muscle. The method was further adapted to image biological samples on a range of scales, from isolated cells to millimeter-sized tissue sections. Due to the ‘photon-hungry’ nature of the technique, its full potential is often exploited in combination with full-field imaging techniques. From the vast set of microscopic tools available, coherent full-field X-ray imaging has proven to be particularly useful. This multimodal approach allows to correlate two- and three-dimensional images of cells and tissue with diffraction maps of structure parameters. With the set of tools developed in this thesis, scanning X-ray diffraction can now be efficiently used for the structural analysis of soft biological tissues with overarching future applications in biophysical and biomedical research.

The cardiac function relies on an intricate molecular and cellular three-dimensional (3d) architecture of a complex, dense and co-dependent cellular network. Structural alterations of the cardiac structure can affect its essential function and lead to severe dysfunction of the organ. Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death worldwide with a rising incidence. However, it is not possible to give a generalized answer how the heart is formed. Up to now, cardiac structure as well as physiologic and disease-related tissue alterations of the tissue are mainly investigated by established 2d imaging methods such as optical microscopy or electron microscopy. This work presents a multiscale and multimodal X-ray imaging approach, which allows to probe the heart structure from the scale of entire intact murine hearts to the molecular organisation of the sarcomer structure. While the molecular structure of the actomyosin complex is probed by scanning X-ray diffraction, the 3d arrangement of the cellular network is investigated by propagation-based X-ray phase-contrast tomography. In this context, the concept of 3d virtual histology of cardiac tissue by X-ray phase-contrast tomography using laboratory sources as well as highly coherent synchrotron radiation is being further developed.

This open access book, edited and authored by a team of world-leading researchers, provides a broad overview of advanced photonic methods for nanoscale visualization, as well as describing a range of fascinating in-depth studies. Introductory chapters cover the most relevant physics and basic methods that young researchers need to master in order to work effectively in the field of nanoscale photonic imaging, from physical first principles, to instrumentation, to mathematical foundations of imaging and data analysis. Subsequent chapters demonstrate how these cutting edge methods are applied to a variety of systems, including complex fluids and biomolecular systems, for visualizing their structure and dynamics, in space and on timescales extending over many orders of magnitude down to the femtosecond range. Progress in nanoscale photonic imaging in Göttingen has been the sum total of more than a decade of work by a wide range of scientists and mathematicians across disciplines, working together in a vibrant collaboration of a kind rarely matched. This volume presents the highlights of their research achievements and serves as a record of the unique and remarkable constellation of contributors, as well as looking ahead at the future prospects in this field. It will serve not only as a useful reference for experienced researchers but also as a valuable point of entry for newcomers.

Scientists and engineers have long relied on the power of imaging techniques to help see objects invisible to the naked eye, and thus, to advance scientific knowledge. These experts are constantly pushing the limits of technology in pursuit of chemical imagingâ€"the ability to visualize molecular structures and chemical composition in time and space as actual events unfoldâ€"from the smallest dimension of a biological system to the widest expanse of a distant galaxy. Chemical imaging has a variety of applications for almost every facet of our daily lives, ranging from medical diagnosis and treatment to the study and design of material properties in new products. In addition to highlighting advances in chemical imaging that could have the greatest impact on critical problems in science and technology, Visualizing Chemistry reviews the current state of chemical imaging technology, identifies promising future developments and their applications, and suggests a research and educational agenda to enable breakthrough improvements.

X-ray optics is undergoing a renaissance, which may be paralleled to that experienced by visible-light optics following the invention of the laser. The associated surge of activity in "coherent" x-ray optics has been documented in this monograph, the first of its type in the field.

Hardly any other discovery of the nineteenth century did have such an impact on science and technology as Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen’s seminal find of the X-rays. X-ray tubes soon made their way as excellent instruments for numerous applications in medicine, biology, materials science and testing, chemistry and public security. Developing new radiation sources with higher brilliance and much extended spectral range resulted in stunning developments like the electron synchrotron and electron storage ring and the freeelectron laser. This handbook highlights these developments in fifty chapters. The reader is given not only an inside view of exciting science areas but also of design concepts for the most advanced light sources. The theory of synchrotron radiation and of the freeelectron laser, design examples and the technology basis are presented. The handbook presents advanced concepts like seeding and harmonic generation, the booming field of Terahertz radiation sources and upcoming brilliant light sources driven by laser-plasma accelerators. The applications of the most advanced light sources and the advent of nanobeams and fully coherent x-rays allow experiments from which scientists in the past could not even dream. Examples are the diffraction with nanometer resolution, imaging with a full 3D reconstruction of the object from a diffraction pattern, measuring the disorder in liquids with high spatial and temporal resolution. The 20th century was dedicated to the development and improvement of synchrotron light sources with an ever ongoing increase of brilliance. With ultrahigh brilliance sources, the 21st century will be the century of x-ray lasers and their applications. Thus, we are already close to the dream of condensed matter and biophysics: imaging single (macro)molecules and measuring their dynamics on the femtosecond timescale to produce movies with atomic resolution.