Interpretable and Efficient Interferometric Contrast in Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy with a Diffraction-Grating Beam Splitter

Abstract

Electron microscopes can image atoms in solids, molecules, and fields, but typically a different imaging method is used for each. The authors demonstrate a technique called scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) holography that is highly sensitive to electric and magnetic fields, is capable of subatomic resolution, and is efficient enough to minimize degradation of easily-damaged materials. With a single STEM holographic image, one could distinguish crystallized clusters on the surface of a nanoparticle and detect an electric field due to charging of the particle. All it takes is one diffraction grating installed in any TEM with a high-throughput camera.