Plasmon-ratio imaging: a technique for enhancing the contrast of second phases with reduced diffraction contrast in TEM micrographs.
A technique is proposed for reducing unwanted diffraction contrast when imaging second phases in crystalline materials using transmission electron microscopy. With the suggested name of plasmon-ratio imaging, the technique uses an energy-filtered imaging system to record and determine a ratio for two images taken at energies in the low loss region. Unlike core-loss imaging, the use of very thin specimens is not required. It is concluded that it is often possible to create a ratio image in which the contrast is dominated by energy loss, that is, chemical differences, rather than by diffraction effects.
Materials Technology Laboratories, Natural Resources Canada, 568 Booth St., Ottawa K1A 0G1, Canada. graham.carpenter@sympatico.ca
Graham J C
GJ
Carpenter