Coherent Diffraction Imaging in Transmission Electron Microscopy for Atomic Resolution Quantitative Studies of the Matter

Abstract

The paper focuses on the development of electron coherent diffraction imaging in transmission electron microscopy, made in the, approximately, last ten years in our collaborative research group, to study the properties of materials at atomic resolution, overcoming the limitations due to the aberrations of the electron lenses and obtaining atomic resolution images, in which the distribution of the maxima is directly related to the specimen atomic potentials projected onto the microscope image detector. Here, it is shown how augmented coherent diffraction imaging makes it possible to achieve quantitative atomic resolution maps of the specimen atomic species, even in the presence of low atomic number atoms within a crystal matrix containing heavy atoms. This aim is achieved by: (i) tailoring the experimental set-up, (ii) improving the experimental data by properly treating parasitic diffused intensities to maximize the measure of the significant information, (iii) developing efficient methods to merge the information acquired in both direct and reciprocal spaces, (iv) treating the dynamical diffused intensities to accurately measure the specimen projected potentials, (v) improving the phase retrieval algorithms to better explore the space of solutions. Finally, some of the future perspectives of coherent diffraction imaging in a transmission electron microscope are given.

Blind coherent modulation imaging using momentum acceleration and sample priors

“…Coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) is a lensless imaging technique, which reconstructs the exiting wavefield of an object from a single recorded diffraction intensity through iterative algorithm [1]. In recent years, CDI has developed rapidly because of its simplicity and ease of operation, especially in the fields of x-ray [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] and electron beam [9][10][11], etc. However, conventional CDI iterative algorithms are plagued with the uniqueness of the solutions and the stagnation of the * Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.…”

Relativistic ultrafast electron diffraction at high repetition rates

“…In addition, improvement in generation of coherent electron beams with high average beam current will unlock new experimental possibilities, which have thus far been limited to static electron microscopy, such as scanning electron nanodiffraction 33 and coherent diffractive imaging. 34 …”