"Strong laser fields can be used to control the behavior of atoms and molecules," said Argonne National Laboratory scientist Linda Young. "Using X-rays, we can investigate their properties in a totally new way."

Crystallization allows scientists to create a periodic structure that will strongly diffract in specific directions when bombarded with X-rays. From the resulting diffraction pattern, a real-space image can be reconstructed.

However, without crystallization, it is impossible to create a composite diffraction image, Argonne Physicist Robin Santra said.

"Understanding the structure of the approximately 1 million human proteins that cannot be crystallized is perhaps the most important challenge facing structural biology," Young said. "A method for structure determination at atomic resolution without the need to crystallize would be revolutionary."

Young and her team have successfully aligned molecules using a laser, probed the aligned ensemble with X-rays and shown theoretically that the technique could be used for X-ray imaging. However, they said an upgrade to the lab's Advanced Photon Source facility is needed before X-ray diffraction can be done experimentally.

The study appears in the journal Applied Physics Letters.