Letter abstract
Nature Physics 5, 129 - 133 (2009)
Published online: 21 December 2008 | doi:10.1038/nphys1161
Subject Categories: Techniques and instrumentation | Nanotechnology | Optical physics
Sub-ångström-resolution diffractive imaging of single nanocrystals
W. J. Huang, J. M. Zuo, B. Jiang, K. W. Kwon & Moonsub Shim
Diffractive imaging has the potential to succeed in structure determination of single nanoparticles using probes such as pulsed X-rays1 or medium-energy electrons2 where an atomic-resolution imaging lens is not available and radiation damage can be remedied3. Although diffractive imaging has been demonstrated for particles4 and single cells5, 6 at several nanometres in resolution, ultimately, atomic resolution is required to determine their three-dimensional structure. A major difficulty in atomic-resolution diffractive imaging is the loss of weak coherent scattering signals in recorded diffraction patterns. Here, we show that this can be overcome using information from low-resolution images. By combining information from both diffraction and imaging, we succeeded in phasing experimental electron diffraction patterns of individual CdS quantum dots at sub-ångström resolution. The low-resolution image provides the starting phase, real-space constraint, missing information in the central beam and essential marks for aligning the diffraction pattern, and diffraction provides high-resolution information. We show that for CdS nanocrystals, the improved image resolution enables determination of their atomic structures. As low-resolution images can be obtained from different sources, the technique developed here is general and provides a basis for imaging the three-dimensional atomic structure of single nanoparticles, where correct orientation of the recorded diffraction patterns is critical7.
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
Correspondence to: J. M. Zuo e-mail: jianzuo@uiuc.edu
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