Electron diffraction of CBr4 in superfluid helium droplets: A step towards single molecule diffraction

We demonstrate the practicality of electron diffraction of single molecules inside superfluid helium droplets using CBr4 as a testing case. By reducing the background from pure undoped droplets via multiple doping, with small corrections for dimers and trimers, clearly resolved diffraction rings of CBr4 similar to those of gas phase molecules can be observed. The experimental data from CBr4 doped droplets are in agreement with both theoretical calculations and with experimental results of gaseous species. The abundance of monomers and clusters in the droplet beam also qualitatively agrees with the Poisson statistics. Possible extensions of this approach to macromolecular ions will also be discussed. This result marks the first step in building a molecular goniometer using superfluid helium droplet cooling and field induced orientation. The superior cooling effect of helium droplets is ideal for field induced orientation, but the diffraction background from helium is a concern. This work addresses this background issue and identifies a possible solution. Accumulation of diffraction images only becomes meaningful when all images are produced from molecules oriented in the same direction, and hence a molecular goniometer is a crucial technology for serial diffraction of single molecules.