Diagnostics of nanosystems with the use of ultrashort X-ray pulses: theory and experiment (brief review)

X-ray diffraction analysis is one of the famous widely used methods to study the structure of matter. It is well known that the scattering of ultrashort X-ray pulses can be used in X-ray diffraction analysis. The scattering of such pulses by various multiatomic objects and nanosystems leads to diffraction patterns carrying information not only on the structure of an object but also on the dynamics of processes in this object. Currently, it is technically possible to fabricate intense sources of femto- and attosecond pulses. New theories including the specificity of the interaction of such pulses with matter are not necessarily applied in the X-ray diffraction analysis involving ultrashort pulses. The inclusion of this specificity should lead to a better use of capabilities of sources of ultrashort pulses and to new scientific results. Sources of X-ray ultrashort pulses, widely used methods and new theories of the X-ray diffraction analysis including the specificity of the interaction of such pulses with matter, and modern experiments involving ultrashort pulses are briefly reviewed here.