  We report the 3D structure determination of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by
X-ray single particle imaging (SPI). Around 10 million diffraction patterns
from gold nanoparticles were measured in less than 100 hours of beam time, more
than 100 times the amount of data in any single prior SPI experiment, using the
new capabilities of the European X-ray free electron laser which allow
measurements of 1500 frames per second. A classification and structural sorting
method was developed to disentangle the heterogeneity of the particles and to
obtain a resolution of better than 3 nm. With these new experimental and
analytical developments, we have entered a new era for the SPI method and the
path towards close-to-atomic resolution imaging of biomolecules is apparent.
