Lasers align molecules for x-ray diffraction
May 14, 2008 | Source: KurzweilAI
Argonne National Laboratory researchers have found a method to take atomic resolution pictures of molecules without first crystallizing them.
The new method uses strong laser fields to align the molecules so that when bombarded with x-rays (for synchrotron x-ray diffraction), they all diffract in the same way.
Around one million human proteins cannot be crystallized.
