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Title: Efficient linear phase contrast in scanning transmission electron microscopy with matched illumination and detector interferometry

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10719· OSTI ID:1255550
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, OR (United States)
  3. Gatan Inc., Pleasanton, CA (United States)
  4. Ulm Univ., Ulm (Germany)

The ability to image light elements in soft matter at atomic resolution enables unprecedented insight into the structure and properties of molecular heterostructures and beam-sensitive nanomaterials. In this study, we introduce a scanning transmission electron microscopy technique combining a pre-specimen phase plate designed to produce a probe with structured phase with a high-speed direct electron detector to generate nearly linear contrast images with high efficiency. We demonstrate this method by using both experiment and simulation to simultaneously image the atomic-scale structure of weakly scattering amorphous carbon and strongly scattering gold nanoparticles. Our method demonstrates strong contrast for both materials, making it a promising candidate for structural determination of het erogeneous soft/hard matter samples even at low electron doses comparable to traditional phase-contrast transmission electron microscopy. Simulated images demonstrate the extension of this technique to the challenging problem of structural determination of biological material at the surface of inorganic crystals.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; SC0010466
OSTI ID:
1255550
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1379111
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 7; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 66 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Roadmap on structured light journal November 2016
Hollow Cone Electron Imaging for Single Particle 3D Reconstruction of Proteins journal June 2016
Electrochemical and Structural Analysis in All‐Solid‐State Lithium Batteries by Analytical Electron Microscopy: Progress and Perspectives journal October 2019
Atomic electron tomography: 3D structures without crystals journal September 2016
Non-spectroscopic composition measurements of SrTiO 3 -La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 multilayers using scanning convergent beam electron diffraction journal February 2017
Low-dose cryo electron ptychography via non-convex Bayesian optimization preprint January 2017
A fast image simulation algorithm for scanning transmission electron microscopy journal May 2017
Nanostructuring of electron beams journal January 2019
py4DSTEM: a software package for multimodal analysis of four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy datasets text January 2020
Manifold learning of four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy journal January 2019
Atomic electron tomography in three and four dimensions journal April 2020
Sub-Ångstrom electric field measurements on a universal detector in a scanning transmission electron microscope journal August 2018
A novel explanation for the enhanced colloidal stability of silver nanoparticles in the presence of an oppositely charged surfactant journal January 2017
A Streaming Multi-GPU Implementation of Image Simulation Algorithms for Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy preprint January 2017
Unraveling the 3D atomic structure of a suspended graphene/hBN van der Waals heterostructure text January 2017
The 4D Camera: Very High Speed Electron Counting for 4D-STEM journal August 2019
A streaming multi-GPU implementation of image simulation algorithms for scanning transmission electron microscopy journal October 2017
Implementing an accurate and rapid sparse sampling approach for low-dose atomic resolution STEM imaging journal October 2016
Low-dose cryo electron ptychography via non-convex Bayesian optimization journal August 2017
Correcting the linear and nonlinear distortions for atomically resolved STEM spectrum and diffraction imaging journal January 2018