Single-particle incoherent diffractive imaging and amplified spontaneous emission in copper nanocubes

Abstract

We demonstrate element-specific incoherent diffractive imaging (IDI) of single copper nanocubes using intensity correlations of K$\alpha$ fluorescence at a hard X-ray free-electron laser. Combining single particle diffraction classification with IDI, we retrieve the form factor of 88 nm cubes with 20 nm resolution, extending IDI to the destructive single-particle regime with a large gain in resolution. IDI visibility drops sharply above a fluence of $10^2$ J/cm$^2$, consistent with the assumption of amplified spontaneous emission. Our results reveal fundamental limits for high-fluence nanoimaging towards future single-particle X-ray imaging.