Tomography of asymmetric bulk specimens imaged by scanning electron microscopy.
The scanning electron microscope produces nanometer-resolution surface images of biological samples preserved in a life-like state. Extracting three-dimensional information from these two-dimensional images has been the subject of long and ongoing research. We present here a general method and theoretical basis for reconstructing the surfaces of SEM specimens imaged from multiple directions by back-projection. The resulting reconstructions are faithful representations of the original specimen geometry, even when the input images are blurred and have low signal-to-noise ratio.
Woodward
J D
JD
Electron Microscope Unit, University of Cape Town, 7701 Cape Town, South Africa. jeremydavidwoodward@gmail.com
Sewell
B T
BT
D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods*