A diffraction grating placed in the STEM condenser system enables scanning electron beam holography. Of the multiple beams formed, one passes through the specimen while the other(s) pass through vacuum or through the specimen support. The resulting interference thus permits collection of phase and amplitude simultaneously. Two preprints appeared in late July, announcing experimental validation of the idea on nano-particulate specimens. If the technique can be confirmed on fragile specimens, we can expect remarkably improved biological imaging, largely as a result of reduced electron dose.
References:
- Harvey et al., “Interpretable and efficient contrast in scanning transmission electron microscopy with a diffraction grating beamsplitter”, arXiv:1808.00370.
- Yasin et al., “Probing Light Atoms at Sub-nanometer Resolution: Realization of Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope Holography”, arXiv:1808.01016.