Analysis of spatial point patterns in electron-counting images.

In this study, the spatial counting statistics of free electron beams, which were released via field emission from cold metal and propagated through a vacuum region, were investigated to examine the normal functioning of the counting equipment for electron correlation spectroscopy. The beam electrons were recorded separately according to the locations of individual events as they reached the direct detection transmission Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) sensor. We examined the spatial point patterns arising from the locations of the individual events of each primary electron being detected in the case of electrons in a state in which the wave function is constant on the sensor.

Properties of electrostatic correcting systems with annular apertures.

Image formation in electron microscopes with circular hole and annular apertures is studied theoretically. The apertures-the circular hole aperture being negative with respect to the annular aperture-produce an additional electrostatic field that exerts a force on the electrons directed toward the optical axis. The resulting deflection angle decreases with increasing distance from the optical axis.

Electron holography on Fraunhofer diffraction.

Electron holography in Fraunhofer region was realized by using an asymmetric double slit. A Fraunhofer diffraction wave from a wider slit worked as an objective wave interfered with a plane wave from a narrower slit as a reference wave under the pre-Fraunhofer condition and recorded as a hologram. Here, the pre-Fraunhofer condition means that the following conditions are simultaneously satisfied: single-slit observations are performed under the Fraunhofer condition and the double-slit observations are performed under the Fresnel condition.

Mechanism for correlation in a coherent electron beam.

The correlation of electron counts from two detectors illuminated by a coherent electron beam is analyzed by associating the path of the electron beam through the lenses with the direct Coulomb interaction between two individual electrons. This is shown to lead to a full statistical description of the electron counts. The dominant contribution to the correlation is found to be due to the trajectory displacement caused by the repulsive Coulomb interaction between the first anode and the cathode tip, and the correlation of electron counts is found to depend on the amount of defocusing on the shift of the virtual source for two electrons within the correlation time.

Phase reconstruction in annular bright-field scanning transmission electron microscopy.

A novel technique for reconstructing the phase shifts of electron waves was applied to Cs-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). To realize this method, a new STEM system equipped with an annular aperture, annularly arrayed detectors and an arrayed image processor has been developed and evaluated in experiments. We show a reconstructed phase image of graphite particles and demonstrate that this new method works effectively for high-resolution phase imaging.

Two-electron interference in a coherent beam.

The interference between quantum amplitude for two electrons, emitted from two source points, to be detected at two detection points, is a direct result of quantum exchange statistics. Such interference is observed in the coincidence probability, compared with that of statistically independent electrons, by computing the time correlation function from the arrival times of the electrons. When the two detectors are separated by a distance less than the coherence length, the coincidence probability is suppressed for electrons (antibunching) due to the Pauli principle, even though they do not interact with each other.

Evolutionary computation applied to the reconstruction of 3-D surface topography in the SEM.

A genetic algorithm has been applied to the line profile reconstruction from the signals of the standard secondary electron (SE) and/or backscattered electron detectors in a scanning electron microscope. This method solves the topographical surface reconstruction problem as one of combinatorial optimization. To extend this optimization approach for three-dimensional (3-D) surface topography, this paper considers the use of a string coding where a 3-D surface topography is represented by a set of coordinates of vertices.

Line profile reconstruction from simultaneously recorded secondary and backscattered electron signals.

We propose a reconstruction method of surface morphology using a combination of secondary and back-scattered electron signals from the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Compared with multiple-detector methods, the proposed system requires only conventional secondary and backscattered electron detectors for a line profile reconstruction in one direction. This method is an application of genetic algorithms to the measurement of surface morphology in SEM.