  In single particle coherent x-ray diffraction imaging experiments, performed
at x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs), samples are exposed to intense x-ray
pulses to obtain single-shot diffraction patterns. The high intensity induces
electronic dynamics on the femtosecond time scale in the system, which can
reduce the contrast of the obtained diffraction patterns and adds an isotropic
background. We quantify the degradation of the diffraction pattern from
ultrafast electronic damage by performing simulations on a biological sample
exposed to x-ray pulses with different parameters. We find that the contrast is
substantially reduced and the background is considerably strong only if almost
all electrons are removed from their parent atoms. This happens at fluences of
at least one order of magnitude larger than provided at currently available
XFEL sources.
