Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Electron microscopy

Atomic resolution comes into phase

Nature Physics volume 8, pages 586–587 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Atomic-resolution differential phase-contrast imaging using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy now provides a sensitive probe of the electric field associated with individual atoms.

Phase-contrast techniques enable transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) to attain high spatial resolutions. One particularly successful method for generating phase contrast in scanning transmission electron microscopes (STEMs) is differential phase contrast (DPC). Now, as reported in Nature Physics1, Naoya Shibata and co-workers have demonstrated the first experimental DPC images at atomic resolution. By applying the method to a ferroelectric material, not only is the atomic electric field imaged, but also the atomic-scale electric fields induced by the individual electric dipoles within each unit cell.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: STEM geometry for imaging.

References

  1. Shibata, N. et al. Nature Phys. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphys2337 (2012).

  2. Born, M. & Wolf, E. Principles of Optics (Pergamon Press, 1980).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Scherzer, O. Z. Phys. 101, 593–603 (1936).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Dekkers, N. H. & de Lang, H. Optik 41, 452–456 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dekkers, N. H. & de Lang, H. Philips Tech. Rev. 37, 1–9 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chapman, J. N., McFadyen, I. R. & McVitie, S. IEEE Trans. Mag. 26, 1506–1511 (1990).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Peter D. Nellist is in the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, 16 Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK,

    Peter D. Nellist

Authors
  1. Peter D. Nellist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter D. Nellist.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nellist, P. Atomic resolution comes into phase. Nature Phys 8, 586–587 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2357

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2357

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing