Scientists want better view of molecules

LIVERMORE, Calif., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. physicists are joining an international effort to create technology that gives high-resolution images of the atomic structure of cellular molecules.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers, in collaboration with other scientists in the United States, Germany and Sweden, want to utilize high-energy X-ray beams, combined with complex algorithms, to overcome difficulties in current technology.

Using high-energy, extremely short-pulse -- less than one quadrillionth of a second -- X-ray beams to examine nanoscale objects is not a new concept, the scientists said. The difficulty lies with the algorithms to convert the resulting patterns into usable images.

What is new is to use a very special reference object called a "uniformly redundant array" -- a combination of complex formulas known as a "Fourier Transform" and a "Hadamard Transform." They convert data into an image representing the object being examined, the physicists said

"The resolution we achieved is among the best ever reported for holography of a micrometer-sized object," said U.S. project leader Stefan Haqu-Riege. He said even that will improve with development of nanoarrays for Fourier Transform Holography now under construction at Sanford University.

Details of the project appeared in the Aug. 1 issue of the journal Nature Photonics.