Photoelectron dynamics in x-ray free-electron-laser diffractive imaging of biological samples.

X-ray free electron lasers hold the promise of enabling atomic-resolution diffractive imaging of single biological molecules. We develop a hybrid continuum-particle model to describe the x-ray induced damage and find that the photoelectron dynamics and electrostatic confinement strongly affect the time scale of the damage processes. These phenomena are not fully captured in hydrodynamic modeling approaches.