Techniques of using a Transmission Charged Particle Microscope for diffraction pattern detection are disclosed. An example method including irradiating at least a portion of a specimen with a charged particle beam, using an imaging system to collect charged particles that traverse the specimen during said irradiation, and to direct them onto a detector configured to operate in a particle counting mode, using said detector to record a diffraction pattern of said irradiated portion of the specimen, recording said diffraction pattern iteratively in a series of successive detection frames, and during recording of each frame, using a scanning assembly for causing relative motion of said diffraction pattern and said detector, so as to cause each local intensity maximum in said pattern to trace out a locus on said detector.

Transmission microscopy imaging systems include a mask and/or other modulator situated to encode image beams, e.g., by deflecting the image beam with respect to the mask and/or sensor. The beam is modulated/masked either before or after transmission through a sample to induce a spatially and/or temporally encoded signal by modifying any of the beam/image components including the phase/coherence, intensity, or position of the beam at the sensor. For example, a mask can be placed/translated through the beam so that several masked beams are received by a sensor during a single sensor integration time. Images associated with multiple mask displacements are then used to reconstruct a video sequence using a compressive sensing method. Another example of masked modulation involves a mechanism for phase-retrieval, whereby the beam is modulated by a set of different masks in the image plane and each masked image is recorded in the diffraction plane.

Transmission microscopy imaging systems include a mask and/or other modulator situated to encode image beams, e.g., by deflecting the image beam with respect to the mask and/or sensor. The beam is modulated/masked either before or after transmission through a sample to induce a spatially and/or temporally encoded signal by modifying any of the beam/image components including the phase/coherence, intensity, or position of the beam at the sensor. For example, a mask can be placed/translated through the beam so that several masked beams are received by a sensor during a single sensor integration time. Images associated with multiple mask displacements are then used to reconstruct a video sequence using a compressive sensing method. Another example of masked modulation involves a mechanism for phase-retrieval, whereby the beam is modulated by a set of different masks in the image plane and each masked image is recorded in the diffraction plane.

According to one embodiment, there is provided an analysis method by a scanning transmission electron microscope including a dark field detector that detects dark field images by irradiating a sample with electron beams and detecting electron beams that are transmitted through or scattered from the sample, and an electron beam detector that detects electron diffraction images at radiation points of the electron beams among the electron beams that are transmitted through the sample or scattered from detecting the electron beams transmitted through a hollow portion of the dark field detector. The analysis method includes scanning a plurality of the radiation points set in an attention area by sequentially radiating electron beams at preset incidence angles, and performing detection of dark field images of the attention area and detection of NBD images at each of the plurality of radiation points at the same time.

Methods and systems for temporal compressive sensing are disclosed, where within each of one or more sensor array data acquisition periods, one or more sensor array measurement datasets comprising distinct linear combinations of time slice data are acquired, and where mathematical reconstruction allows for calculation of accurate representations of the individual time slice datasets.

There is provided an electron microscope capable of measuring aberration with high accuracy. The electron microscope (100) comprises: an electron beam source (10) for producing an electron beam (EB); an illumination lens system (101) for focusing the electron beam (EB) onto a sample (S); a scanner (12) for scanning the focused electron beam (EB) over the sample (S); an aperture stop (30) having a plurality of detection angle-limiting holes (32) for extracting rays of the electron beam (EB) having mutually different detection angles from the electron beam (EB) transmitted through the sample (S); and a detector (20) for detecting the rays of the electron beam (EB) passed through the aperture stop (30).

Methods and systems for temporal compressive sensing are disclosed, where within each of one or more sensor array data acquisition periods, one or more sensor array measurement datasets comprising distinct linear combinations of time slice data are acquired, and where mathematical reconstruction allows for calculation of accurate representations of the individual time slice datasets.

A detector mask transmits selectively a plurality of probe particles to a particle detector, the detector mask includes: a plate including a plate wall disposed in the plate and enclosing a transmission orifice arranged in a transmission profile to: transmit probe particles having a trajectory coincident with the transmission orifice, block probe particles having a trajectory external to the transmission orifice, and form a probe particle beam comprising the probe particles transmitted by the transmission orifice to the particle detector, wherein the transmission profile includes a sector, a semi-circle, an annular sector, or a combination including at least one of the foregoing first transmission profiles.

The invention relates to a device for correlative scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and light microscopy. In order to create a device for correlative microscopy which enables an improved combination of light microscopy and STEM methods, a STEM detector (7) according to the invention is combined with a photo-optical lens (8). This detection device combines the efficient detection by means of STEM microscopy of materials having a high atomic number, for example specific nanoparticle markers in a specimen in a liquid, such as a cell, with simultaneous light microscopy.

An observation method using a scanning transmission electron microscope for scanning an electron beam over a specimen and detecting electrons transmitted through the specimen includes: acquiring results of detecting the electrons transmitted through the specimen using a segmented detector having detection regions disposed in a bright-field area; and generating segmented images based on the results of detecting the electrons in the detection regions, and applying filters determined based on a signal-to-noise ratio to the segmented images to generate a reconstructed image. The signal-to-noise ratio is proportional to an absolute value of a total phase contrast transfer function normalized by a noise level, the total phase contrast transfer function being defined by product-sum operation of phase contrast transfer functions expressed by complex numbers and weight coefficients for the detection regions. The filters for the detection regions are determined based on the weight coefficients that yield a maximum of the signal-to-noise ratio.