Coupling x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy and dynamic coherent x-ray diffraction imaging: Particle motion analysis from nano-to-micrometer scale

Two well-known measurement methods use coherent x rays: x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) and coherent x-ray diffraction imaging (CXDI). We propose and demonstrate an approach to analyze particle motion in heterogeneous solutions over a wide spatiotemporal scale by combining XPCS and dynamic CXDI using a data-driven approach. By applying this approach to analyze of the dynamics of colloidal gold particles dispersed in aqueous polyvinyl alcohol solutions, we found that Brownian motion exists in the range of a few hundred nanometers, and two modes of motion exist in the micrometer range, i.e., trapping in a narrow region and diffusion motion along a preferred direction. This approach can be applied to analyze dynamic heterogeneity in materials and cells that do not transmit visible light and electrons.