English

Observation of laser power changes in ultrafast protein dynamics

1167
2024-02-28 15:00:41
See translation

When researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Medicine conducted their first ultrafast X-ray crystallographic experiment on myoglobin in 2015, they were not aware that they had conducted the wrong experiment. By increasing the power of X-ray free electron lasers to ensure usable diffraction patterns, lead researcher Ilme Schlichting said that they "suddenly entered the wrong [excited] state without noticing.".

The laser did not observe a single photon excitation pathway that reflects the natural dynamics of myoglobin, but instead violently collided to induce multiphoton absorption. This raises a question, is the oscillation they see in protein artifacts this more energetic excitation? Now, Schlichting and her team have conducted experiments again at lower power for inspection.

The result surprised Schlichting. "We anticipate slight changes in the dynamics, but what we see is a significant change in carbon monoxide," she said. Unlike the instant photolysis they observed at high laser power, this reaction took hundreds of femtoseconds at low power. She said that the group modeled their observations and attributed their results to two different reaction pathways, the latter of which may better represent real reactions.

However, myoglobin only differs slightly at low power. This reassures Richard Neutz, a biochemistry professor at the University of Gothenburg. Although unrelated to the group, he did review the work before publication and wrote corresponding opinions on the impact of the results. "This work is very important because it indicates that we were not completely wrong before," he said. Essentially, past high-power experiments were not perfect, but still provided valuable insights into protein dynamics. "On the other hand," Neutze said, "the author also suggests that if you are really interested in ultrafast chemistry, it is important to conduct experiments correctly because there are subtle differences in the mechanisms that are important.".

In the end, Schlichting said that researchers only need to remain transparent about the systems they are engaged in. These experiments themselves are challenging. "Sometimes you either go home without any data or do it in a multiphoton state," she said, "but you should be honest with it.".

Source: Laser Net

Related Recommendations
  • Veeco Instruments wins IBM big order

    On August 14th local time, Veeco Instruments, a well-known American laser annealing manufacturer, announced an important cooperation with technology giant IBM. It is reported that IBM has selected Veeco Instruments' WaferStorm wet processing system as support for its advanced packaging applications, and the two parties have signed a joint development agreement to explore the potential of utilizi...

    2024-08-23
    See translation
  • Tower and Fortsense have announced the launch of their highly advanced 3D imager for LiDAR

    Recently, Gaota Semiconductor announced the successful development of an advanced 3D imager based on dToF technology for LiDAR applications. The newly developed product FL6031 is based on Tower's 65nm Stacked BSI CIS platform and has pixel level hybrid bonding function. It is the first in a series of products aimed at meeting the needs of numerous deep sensing applications in the automotive, consu...

    2023-09-14
    See translation
  • Using laser controlled filaments in vanadium dioxide to enhance neural morphology calculations

    In a new "Progress in Science" study, scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China have developed a dynamic network structure for neural morphology calculations using laser controlled conductive wires.Neuromorphic computing is an emerging research field that draws inspiration from the human brain to create efficient and intelligent computer systems. The core of neuromorphic co...

    2023-10-13
    See translation
  • Allocate 10 billion US dollars! New York State to Build NA Extreme UV Lithography Center

    On December 11th local time, New York State announced a partnership with companies such as IBM, Micron, Applied Materials, and Tokyo Electronics to jointly invest $10 billion to expand the Albany NanoTech Complex in New York State, ultimately transforming it into a high numerical aperture extreme ultraviolet (NA EUV) lithography center to support the development of the world's most complex and pow...

    2023-12-15
    See translation
  • New progress in in-situ identification and quantitative research of methane carbon isotopes in the ocean

    Recently, Zhang Xin's research team from the Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, based on the in-situ laser Raman spectroscopy technology, made new progress in the in-situ recognition and quantification of methane carbon isotopes by using the significant differences in the Raman spectra of methane carbon isotopes (13CH4 and 12CH4). The relevant results were recently published i...

    2023-10-13
    See translation