Journal: Journal of Synchrotron Radiation

Article Title: Fast-scanning small-angle X-ray scattering of hydrated biological cells

doi: 10.1107/S1600577526002018

Figure Lengend Snippet: Experimental setup. ( a ) Schematic side view of the dedicated flow chamber (see legend for the individual components). Two SiN membranes are separated by 20 µm using SU-8 spacers. This ‘sandwich’ is enclosed by PDMS layers and clamped by metal frames. The buffer flow is represented by blue dashed arrows. ( b ) Schematic drawing of the SAXS experiment (not to scale). The sample (fixed-hydrated cells on a SiN membrane) is scanned through the focused X-rays. The beamstop blocks the direct beam, and the two-dimensional detector records the scattered X-rays. The red dashed lines represent the scattering angle 2θ between the incoming beam direction and the scattered X-rays. ( c ) The flow within the microfluidic chamber is oriented horizontally in perpendicular direction to the incoming beam, thus along the y axis. ( d ) Representation of the scanning scheme; the SiN membrane is moved along the y and z axes to obtain a raster scan of the selected region with the specified step numbers and sizes.

Article Snippet: When fully assembled, the sample chamber is composed of two SiN membranes, one of which the cells are grown, and the other one with an SU-8 spacer of a thickness of 20 μm (Silson Ltd) on its flat side [see Fig. 1 ( a ) and Fig. S1( c ) for more details], thereby enabling liquid flow over the window region.

Techniques: Membrane