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Title: Relative merits and limiting factors for x-ray and electron microscopy of thick, hydrated organic materials

Abstract

Electron and x-ray microscopes allow one to image the entire, unlabeled structure of hydrated materials at a resolution well beyond what visible light microscopes can achieve. However, both approaches involve ionizing radiation, so that radiation damage must be considered as one of the limits to imaging. Drawing upon earlier work, we describe here a unified approach to estimating the image contrast (and thus the required exposure and corresponding radiation dose) in both x-ray and electron microscopy. This approach accounts for factors such as plural and inelastic scattering, and (in electron microscopy) the use of energy filters to obtain so-called "zero loss" images. As expected, it shows that electron microscopy offers lower dose for specimens thinner than about 1 mu m (such as for studies of macromolecules, viruses, bacteria and archaebacteria, and thin sectioned material), while x-ray microscopy offers superior characteristics for imaging thicker specimen such as whole eukaryotic cells, thick-sectioned tissues, and organs. The required radiation dose scales strongly as a function of the desired spatial resolution, allowing one to understand the limits of live and frozen hydrated specimen imaging. Lastly, we consider the factors limiting x-ray microscopy of thicker materials, suggesting that specimens as thick as a whole mousemore » brain can be imaged with x-ray microscopes without significant image degradation should appropriate image reconstruction methods be identified.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2]
  1. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
National Institutes of Health (NIH); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22), Scientific User Facilities Division; USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1411044
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1549479
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Ultramicroscopy
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 184; Journal Issue: PA; Journal ID: ISSN 0304-3991
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; electron; radiation damage; thick specimen; x-ray

Citation Formats

Du, Ming, and Jacobsen, Chris. Relative merits and limiting factors for x-ray and electron microscopy of thick, hydrated organic materials. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2017.10.003.
Du, Ming, & Jacobsen, Chris. Relative merits and limiting factors for x-ray and electron microscopy of thick, hydrated organic materials. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2017.10.003
Du, Ming, and Jacobsen, Chris. Sat . "Relative merits and limiting factors for x-ray and electron microscopy of thick, hydrated organic materials". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2017.10.003. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1411044.
@article{osti_1411044,
title = {Relative merits and limiting factors for x-ray and electron microscopy of thick, hydrated organic materials},
author = {Du, Ming and Jacobsen, Chris},
abstractNote = {Electron and x-ray microscopes allow one to image the entire, unlabeled structure of hydrated materials at a resolution well beyond what visible light microscopes can achieve. However, both approaches involve ionizing radiation, so that radiation damage must be considered as one of the limits to imaging. Drawing upon earlier work, we describe here a unified approach to estimating the image contrast (and thus the required exposure and corresponding radiation dose) in both x-ray and electron microscopy. This approach accounts for factors such as plural and inelastic scattering, and (in electron microscopy) the use of energy filters to obtain so-called "zero loss" images. As expected, it shows that electron microscopy offers lower dose for specimens thinner than about 1 mu m (such as for studies of macromolecules, viruses, bacteria and archaebacteria, and thin sectioned material), while x-ray microscopy offers superior characteristics for imaging thicker specimen such as whole eukaryotic cells, thick-sectioned tissues, and organs. The required radiation dose scales strongly as a function of the desired spatial resolution, allowing one to understand the limits of live and frozen hydrated specimen imaging. Lastly, we consider the factors limiting x-ray microscopy of thicker materials, suggesting that specimens as thick as a whole mouse brain can be imaged with x-ray microscopes without significant image degradation should appropriate image reconstruction methods be identified.},
doi = {10.1016/j.ultramic.2017.10.003},
journal = {Ultramicroscopy},
number = PA,
volume = 184,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {10}
}

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Cited by: 26 works
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