Electron Holography at Atomic Dimensions—Present State

An electron microscope is a wave optical instrument where the object information is carried by an electron wave. However, an important information, the phase of the electron wave, is lost, because only intensities can be recorded in a conventional electron micrograph. Off-axis electron holography solves this “phase problem” by encoding amplitude and phase information in an interference pattern, the so-called hologram. After reconstruction, a rather unrestricted wave optical analysis can be performed on a computer. The possibilities as well as the current limitations of off-axis electron holography at atomic dimensions are discussed, and they are illustrated at two applications of structure characterization of ϵ-NbN and YBCO-1237. Finally, an electron microscope equipped with a Cs-corrector, a monochromator, and a Möllenstedt biprism is outlined for subangstrom holography.