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Making X-ray movies for ultrafast dynamics in nanomatter

From a two-colour diffraction pattern (left), two snapshots of a helium droplet doped with xenon nanoparticles can be reconstructed (centre). These images can inform a potential 3D rendering of a xenon-doped helium nanodroplet (right). An overarching goal of ultrafast science is to enable researchers to watch structural changes in matter on their natural timescale. Experimentally, this translates into taking two snapshots of the same nanoscale object that are only femtoseconds apart to...