PRESS RELEASE
- Research
- 2019
Atomic resolution electron microscopy in a magnetic field free environment：Professor Naoya Shibata, Assistant Professor Takehito Seki, Institute of Engineering Innovation, and other researchers.
Authors
Atomic-resolution electron microscopes utilize high-power magnetic lenses to produce magnified images of the atomic details of matter. Doing so involves placing samples inside the magnetic objective lens, where magnetic fields of up to a few tesla are always exerted. This can largely alter, or even destroy, the magnetic and physical structures of interest. Here, we describe a newly developed magnetic objective lens system that realizes a magnetic field free environment at the sample position. Combined with a higher-order aberration corrector, we achieve direct, atom-resolved imaging with sub-Å spatial resolution with a residual magnetic field of less than 0.2 mT at the sample position. This capability enables direct atom-resolved imaging of magnetic materials such as silicon steels. Removing the need to subject samples to high magnetic field environments enables a new stage in atomic resolution electron microscopy that realizes direct, atomic-level observation of samples without unwanted high magnetic field effects.
Nature Communcations：https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10281-2