Transmission electron microscopy without aberrations: Applications to materials science

Aberration correction leads to a substantial improvement in the directly interpretable resolution of transmission electron microscopes. Direct electron optical correction based on a hexapole corrector and indirect computational analysis of a focal or tilt series of images offer complementary approaches and a combination of the two provides additional advantages. This paper describes aberration corrected instrumentation installed in Oxford which is equipped with correctors for both the image-forming and probe-forming lenses. Examples of the use of these instruments in the characterisation of nanocrystalline catalysts are given together with initial results combining direct and indirect methods.