Objective "X-ray crystallography yields atomic-resolution 3D images of the whole spectrum of molecules ranging from small inorganic clusters to large protein complexes constituting the macromolecular machinery of life. Life is not static, and many of the most important reactions in chemistry and biology are light induced and occur on ultrafast timescales. These have been studied with high time resolution primarily by ultrafast laser spectroscopy, but they reduce the vast complexity of the process to a few reaction coordinates. Here we develop attosecond serial crystallography and spectroscopy, to give a full description of ultrafast processes atomically resolved in real space and on the electronic energy landscape, from co-measurement of X-ray and optical spectra, and X-ray diffraction. This technique will revolutionize our understanding of structure and function at the atomic and molecular level and thereby unravel fundamental processes in chemistry and biology. We apply a fully coherent attosecond X-ray source based on coherent inverse Compton scattering off a free-electron crystal, developed in this project, to outrun radiation damage effects due to the necessary high X-ray irradiance required to acquire diffraction signals [A. Cho, ""Breakthrough of the year"", Science 388, 1530 (2012)]. Our synergistic project will optimize the entire instrumentation towards fundamental measurements of the mechanism of light absorption and excitation energy transfer. The multidisciplinary team optimizes X-ray pulse parameters, in tandem with sample delivery, crystal size, and advanced X-ray detectors. We will apply our new capabilities to one of the most important problems in structural biology, which is to elucidate the dynamics of light reactions, electron transfer and protein structure in photosynthesis. Also, the attosecond source can provide a coherent seed and will help to overcome peak flux limitations of X-ray FELs by introducing chirped pulse amplification to FEL technology." Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeologymineralogycrystallographynatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physicsultrafast lasersnatural sciencesbiological sciencesmolecular biologystructural biologynatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopy Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-2013-SyG - ERC Synergy Grant Call for proposal ERC-2013-SyG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SyG - Synergy grant Lead Principal Investigator Franz Xaver Kaertner Prof. Coordinator DEUTSCHES ELEKTRONEN-SYNCHROTRON DESY Address Notkestrasse 85 22607 Hamburg Germany See on map Region Hamburg Hamburg Hamburg Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Ute Krell (Dr.) Principal investigator Franz Xaver Kaertner (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window EU contribution € 10 774 200,00 Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all DEUTSCHES ELEKTRONEN-SYNCHROTRON DESY Germany EU contribution € 10 774 200,00 Address Notkestrasse 85 22607 Hamburg See on map Region Hamburg Hamburg Hamburg Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Ute Krell (Dr.) Principal investigator Franz Xaver Kaertner (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window UNIVERSITAET HAMBURG Germany EU contribution € 3 110 000,00 Address Mittelweg 177 20148 Hamburg See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Simone Ludwig (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window
