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Abstract

The Sample Environment & Characterization group (SEC) of the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL) develops sample injection systems for in-house scientific instruments and provides user support in sample preparation, characterization and delivery. One branch of SEC is specialized in injecting liquid samples for serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) and single-particle imaging (SPI) experiments. The most common sample environments for SFX are free liquid jets, delivering small protein crystals to the X-ray beam. Gas dynamic virtual nozzles (GDVN) use an outer stream of helium gas to further compress a liquid jet down to a few micrometer in diameter. For rapid prototyping of various device types and materials, sub-micrometer precision 3D printers are nowadays preferably used. By fabricating a large number of reproducible devices with reliable performance, specific experimental conditions of SFX and SPI can be addressed. Here, we present our current pool of high-throughput 3D printed liquid sample environments which encompass GDVNs, mixing GDVNs, high-viscosity extruders (HVE) and coned capillary tips (CCT) with highly reproducible geometric features that are suitable for time-resolved SFX as well as SPI experiments at XFEL facilities.

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