Coherent diffractive imaging: towards achieving atomic resolution

The next generation of X-ray sources will feature highly brilliant X-ray beams that will enable the imaging of local nanoscale structures with unprecedented resolution. A general formalism to predict the achievable spatial resolution in coherent diffractive imaging, based solely on diffracted intensities, is provided. The coherent dose necessary to reach atomic resolution depends significantly on the atomic scale structure, where disordered or amorphous materials require roughly three orders of magnitude lower dose compared with the expected scaling of uniform density materials. Additionally, dose reduction for crystalline materials are predicted at certain resolutions based only on their unit-cell dimensions and structure factors.