X-ray holography in-flight

The advent of X-ray free-electron lasers, delivering ultra intense femtosecond X-ray flashes, opens the door for structure determination of single nanoparticles and biosamples with single shots. The first X-ray diffraction imaging experiments at LCLS delivered promising results on samples in the gas phase. However, the reconstruction of non-periodic structures is still challenging due to the loss of phase information. Meanwhile, X-ray holographic approaches allow for recording the phase directly into the diffraction image. In my talk, I will present the first successful proof-of-principle experiment for ``in-flight''-holography with free viruses.~Our experiments pave the way for unique studies on levitating~nanospecimen that are of central interest in several scientific communities including atmosphere research, chemistry, material sciences, and studies on matter under extreme conditions.