A cartridge-based turning specimen holder with wireless tilt angle measurement for magnetic induction mapping in the transmission electron microscope.

Magnetic induction mapping in the transmission electron microscope using phase contrast techniques such as off-axis electron holography and differential phase contrast imaging often requires the separation of the magnetic contribution to the recorded signal from the electrostatic contribution. When using off-axis electron holography, one of the experimental approaches that can be used to achieve this separation is to evaluate half of the difference between phase shift images that have been recorded before and after turning the sample over. Here, we introduce a cartridge-based sample mounting system, which is based on an existing on-axis tomography specimen holder and can be used to turn a sample over inside the electron microscope, thereby avoiding the need to remove the holder from the microscope to turn the sample over manually.

Fine electron biprism on a Si-on-insulator chip for off-axis electron holography.

Off-axis electron holography allows both the amplitude and the phase shift of an electron wavefield propagating through a specimen in a transmission electron microscope to be recovered. The technique requires the use of an electron biprism to deflect an object wave and a reference wave to form an interference pattern. Here, we introduce an approach based on semiconductor processing technology to fabricate fine electron biprisms with rectangular cross-sections.