Biological Action in and out of the Water Window

Abstract

This study is dealing with the difference of radiation chemical yields of single and double strand breaks induced in plasmid DNA by photons inside and outside of the soft X-ray water window, i.e., in the wavelength range from 2.28 nm to 4.88 nm. Photons were generated by various plasma sources providing nanosecond and sub-nanosecond pulses of extreme ultraviolet, soft X-ray and X-ray radiation. DNA strand breaks were determined by agarose gel electrophoresis. Higher radiation chemical yields of both single and double strand breaks were found using picosecond and nanosecond sources of extreme ultraviolet and X-ray radiation.