Tailoring electron vortex beams with customizable intensity patterns by electron diffraction holography

An electron vortex beam(EVB) carrying orbital angular momentum(OAM) plays a key role in a series of fundamental scientific researches, such as chiral energy-loss spectroscopy and magnetic dichroism spectroscopy. So far, almost all the experimentally created EVBs manifest isotropic doughnut intensity patterns. Here, based on the correlation between local divergence angle of electron beam and phase gradient along azimuthal direction, we show that free electrons can be tailored to EVBs with customizable intensity patterns independent of the carried OAM. As proof-of-concept, by using computer generated hologram and designing phase masks to shape the incident free electrons in the transmission electron microscope, three structured EVBs carrying identical OAM are tailored to exhibit completely different intensity patterns. Furthermore, through the modal decomposition, we quantitatively investigate their OAM spectral distributions and reveal that structured EVBs present a superposition of a series of different eigenstates induced by the locally varied geometries. These results not only generalize the concept of EVB, but also demonstrate an extra highly controllable degree of freedom for electron beam manipulation in addition to OAM.

Surface segregation of InGaAs films by the evolution of reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns

Surface segregation is studied via the evolution of reflection high-energy electron diffraction （RHEED） patterns under different values of As4 BEP for InGaAs films. When the As4 BEP is set to be zero, the RHEED pattern keeps a 4x3/（nx3） structure with increasing temperature, and surface segregation takes place until 470 ℃ The RHEED pattern develops into a metal-rich （4x2） structure as temperature increases to 495℃. The reason for this is that surface segregation makes the In inside the InGaAs film climb to its surface. With the temperature increasing up to 515℃, the RHEED pattern turns into a GaAs（2x4） structure due to In desorption. While the As4 BEP comes up to a specific value （1.33 x 10-4 Pa-1.33 x 10-3 Pa）, the surface temperature can delay the segregation and desorption. We find that As4 BEP has a big influence on surface desorption, while surface segregation is more strongly dependent on temperature than surface desorption.

Real-time generation of circular patterns in electron beam lithography

Electron beam lithography(EBL)involves the transfer of a pattern onto the surface of a substrate byfirst scanning a thin layer of organicfilm(called resist)on the surface by a tightly focused and precisely controlled electron beam(exposure)and then selectively removing the exposed or nonexposed regions of the resist in a solvent(developing).It is widely used for fabrication of integrated cir-cuits,mask manufacturing,photoelectric device processing,and otherfields.The key to drawing circular patterns by EBL is the graphics production and control.In an EBL system,an embedded processor calculates and generates the trajectory coordinates for movement of the electron beam,and outputs the corresponding voltage signal through a digital-to-analog converter(DAC)to control a deflector that changes the position of the electron beam.Through this procedure,it is possible to guarantee the accuracy and real-time con-trol of electron beam scanning deflection.Existing EBL systems mostly use the method of polygonal approximation to expose circles.A circle is divided into several polygons,and the smaller the segmentation,the higher is the precision of the splicing circle.However,owing to the need to generate and scan each polygon separately,an increase in the number of segments will lead to a decrease in the overall lithography speed.In this paper,based on Bresenham’s circle algorithm and exploiting the capabilities of afield-programmable gate array and DAC,an improved real-time circle-producing algorithm is designed for EBL.The algorithm can directly generate cir-cular graphics coordinates such as those for a single circle,solid circle,solid ring,or concentric ring,and is able to effectively realizes deflection and scanning of the electron beam for circular graphics lithography.Compared with the polygonal approximation method,the improved algorithm exhibits improved precision and speed.At the same time,the point generation strategy is optimized to solve the blank pixel and pseudo-pixel problems that arise with Bresenham’s circle algorithm.A complete electron beam deflection system is established to carry out lithography experiments,the results of which show that the error between the exposure results and the preset pat-terns is at the nanometer level,indicating that the improved algorithm meets the requirements for real-time control and high precision of EBL.

CRYSTAL STRUCTURE OF A LONG－PERIOD ORDERED PHASE IN Fe－C MARTENSITE AND COMPUTER SIMULATION OF ITS ELECTRON DIFFRACTION PATTERNS

Different structure models of a long-period ordered phase in Fe-C martenstie formed during aging have been checked by computer simulation of electron diffraction(ED) patterns based on these models.The results showed that the simulated ED pattern of γ'-FexC(Ⅱ) model proposed by the present authors is in good agreement with experimentally observed ED pattern.It was also confirmed that the incommensurate superperiod stems from the coexistence of several γ'-Fe_xC(H) phases with different superperiods.The Fe(144)C(24)(Fe6C) model proposed by Uwakweh et al.generated ED patterns remarkably different from the experimental ones.

A Comparative Study on the Selected Area Electron Diffraction Pattern of Fe Oxide/Au Core-shell Structured Nanoparticles

The selected area electron diffraction （SAED） pattern of magnetic iron oxide core/gold shell nanoparticles has been studied. For the composite particles with mean size less than 10 nm, their SAED pattern is found to be different from either the pattern of pure Fe oxide nanoparticles or that of pure Au particles. Based on the fact that the ring diameters of these composite particles fit the characteristic relation for the fcc structure, the Au atoms on surfaces of the concerned particles are supposed to pack in a way more tightly than they usually do in pure Au nanoparticles. The driving force for this is the coherency strain which enables the shell material at the heterostructured interface to adapt the lattice parameters of the core.

ELECTRON DIFFRACTION PATTERNS ANALYSIS OF PRECIPITATES IN LD_(10) ALLOY

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Review of Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry(ESPI) for Three Dimensional Displacement Measurement

Three dimensional（3D） displacements, which can be translated further into 3D strain, are key parameters tor design, manufacturing and quality control. Using different optical setups, phase-shift methods, and algorithms, several different 3D electronic speckle pattern interferometry（ESPl） systems for displacement and strain measurements have been achieved and commercialized. This paper provides a review of the recent developments in ESPI systems for 3D displacement and strain measurement. After an overview of the fundamentals of ESP! theory, temporal phase-shift, and spatial phase-shift techniques, 3D deformation measurements by the temporal phase-shift ESPI system, which is suited well for static measurement, and by the spatial phase-shift ESPI system, which is particularly useful for dynamic measurement, are discussed. For each method, the basic theory, a brief derivation and different optical layouts are presented. The state of art application, potential and limitation of the ESPI systems are shown and demonstrated.

Analysis of Orange Peel Defect in St14 Steel Sheet by Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD)

In this paper, the orange peel defect in the surface range of the st14 steel sheet has been investigated using the electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) technique. It has been found that the orange peel defect in the st14 steel sheet was resulted from the local coarse grains which were produced during hot-rolling due to the critical deformation in dual-phase zone. During deep drawing, the coarse grains with {100}<001> microtexture can slip on the {112}<111> slip system to form bulging and yields orange peel defects, while the coarse grains with {112}<110> orientation do not form the defect as the Schmid factor of {112}<111> slip system in it equals zero.

Crystallographic Characteristic of Intermetallic Compounds in Al-Si-Mg Casting Alloys Using Electron Backscatter Diffraction

The Al-Si-Mg alloy which can be strengthened by heat treatment is widely applied to the key components of aerospace and aeronautics. Iron-rich intermetallic compounds are well known to be strongly influential on mechanical properties in Al-Si-Mg alloys. But intermetallic compounds in cast Al-Si-Mg alloy intermetallics are often misidentified in previous metallurgical studies. It was described as many different compounds, such as AlFeSi, Al8Fe2Si, Al5（Fe, Mn）3Si2 and so on. For the purpose of solving this problem, the intermetallic compounds in cast Al-Si alloys containing 0.5% Mg were investigated in this study. The iron-rich compounds in Al-Si-Mg casting alloys were characterized by optical microscope（OM）, scanning electron microscope（SEM）, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer（EDS）, electron backscatter diffraction（EBSD） and X-ray powder diffraction（XRD）. The electron backscatter diffraction patterns were used to assess the crystallographic characteristics of intermetallic compounds. The compound which contains Fe/Mg-rich particles with coarse morphologies was Al8FeMg3Si6 in the alloy by using EBSD. The compound belongs to hexagonal system, space group P6_2m, with the lattice parameter a=0.662 nm, c=0.792 nm. The β-phase is indexed as tetragonal Al3FeSi2, space group I4/mcm, a=0.607 nm and c=0.950 nm. The XRD data indicate that Al8FeMg3Si6 and Al3FeSi2 are present in the microstructure of Al-7Si-Mg alloy, which confirms the identification result of EBSD. The present study identified the iron-rich compound in Al-Si-Mg alloy, which provides a reliable method to identify the intermetallic compounds in short time in Al-Si-Mg alloy. Study results are helpful for identification of complex compounds in alloys.

Determination of Space Group Pncm of Prehnite Using Electron Diffraction Method

Space symmetry of prehnite, which occurs in cavities and veins within Skarn from the Tieshan iron mineral deposit,Daye,Hubei province,Central China,has been determined using selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) on the submicrometer scale.Our results confirm that the natural prehnite may have the structure with symmetry Pncm.The unit-cell parameters of investigated prehnite (a=0.458nm,b=0.555nm,and c=1.853nm) have been calculated by using the multicrystal diffraction rings of gold,the internal standard.

Reactive Deposition Epitaxial Growth ofβ-FeSi_(2) Film on Si(001):in situ Observation by Reflective High Energy Electron Diffraction

Reactive deposition epitaxial growth ofβ-FeSi_(2) film on Si(001)has been studied by in situ observation of reflective high energy electron diffraction.Metastable strained phase was observed at initial stages.Surface roughness due to the islanding was observed during the deposition.The existed great tendency to transform the alignment of the orientation of crystallites into random as the thickness of deposited iron increased.

X-Ray Diffraction, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance and Optical Absorption Study of Bauxite

The bauxite mineral obtained from Araku, Vishakapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh, India is used in the present work. Structural characterization was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The mineral was found to be gibbsite in phase. The transitional metal ions present were investigated using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and optical absorption spectra. The EPR results suggest that Fe3+ has replaced Al3+ in the unit cell of bauxite. The optical absorption spectrum is due to Fe3+ which indicates that it is in distorted octahedral environment. The near-infrared (NIR) spectrum is due to water fundamentals and combination overtones, which confirm the formula of the compound. The impurities in the mineral are identified using spectroscopic techniques.

Fitting Full X-Ray Diffraction Patterns for Quantitative Analysis: A Method for Readily Quantifying Crystalline and Disordered Phases

Fitting of full X-ray diffraction patterns is an effective method for quantifying abundances during X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The method is based on the principal that the observed diffraction pattern is the sum of the individual phases that compose the sample. By adding an internal standard (usually corundum) to both the observed patterns and to those for individual pure phases (standards), all patterns can all be normalized to an equivalent intensity based on the internal standard intensity. Using least-squares refinement, the individual phase proportions are varied until an optimal match is reached. As the fitting of full patterns uses the entire pattern, including background, disordered and amorphous phases are explicitly considered as individual phases, with their individual intensity profiles or “amorphous humps” included in the refinement. The method can be applied not only to samples that contain well-ordered materials, but it is particularly well suited for samples containing amorphous and/or disordered materials. In cases with extremely disordered materials where no crystal structure is available for Rietveld refinement or there is no unique intensity area that can be measured for a traditional RIR analysis, full-pattern fitting may be the best or only way to readily obtain quantitative results. This approach is also applicable in cases where there are several coexisting highly disordered phases. As all phases are considered as discrete individual components, abundances are not constrained to sum to 100%.

TEXTURE DETERMINATION OF THIN FILM ZrO_2 BY ELECTRON DIFFRACTION

A method for semi-quantitative determination of thin film texture using electron diffrac- tion is described.The texture state of a zirconia thin film with a cubic structure has been determined in this way and is presented as an example.

Modification of Analytical Expression of Electron Dynamical Diffraction

Assuming that the wave function φ>=eη, the Schrodinger equation can be written as. Neglecting the last two terms, an analytical expression of electron dynamical diffraction was derived by Qibin YANG et al. In this paper, the analytical expression is modified by further considering thesecond-order differential term When the accelerating voltage is not very high, or the sample is not very thin, the reciprocal vector g is large, the modification of the second-order differential is necessary; otherwise it can be neglected.

Effect of Electron Beam Orientation on Exit Wave Function via Simulation of Electron Dynamic Diffraction

Based on the electron dynamic diffraction, phase shift of the exit wave function vs misorientation of the incident electron beam from the exact zone axis has been calculated for the [001] oriented copper. The result shows that the peak of phase shift is the maximum at the atom position as the electron beam along the exact [001] zone axis, and the peak value of phase shift decreases as increases of the misorientation. At small misorientation, i.e. less than 5 degree, change of the phase shift is minimal. The peak value of phase shift decreases significantly when the incident beam deviates form the zone axis over 10 degree and the exit wave has a planar configuration as the misoriention angle arrives -17 degree. The effect of this phase shift characteristics on the information extracted from the hologram has also been considered.

Ultrafast electron diffraction

Ultrafast electron diffraction （UED） technique has proven to be an innovative tool for providing new insights in lattice dynamics with unprecedented temporal and spatial sensitivities. In this article, we give a brief introduction of this technique using the proposed UED station in the Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility （SECUF） as a prototype. We briefly discussed UED＇s functionality, working principle, design consideration, and main components. We also briefly reviewed several pioneer works with UED to study structure-function correlations in several research areas. With these efforts, we endeavor to raise the awareness of this tool among those researchers, who may not yet have realized the emerging opportunities offered by this technique.

Isolated attosecond electron wave packet diffraction

Wave-particle duality is one of the most fundamental and mysterious natures of matters. Here, we present an interesting scheme of isolated electron wave packet diffraction with a few-cycle laser pulse and an extreme ultraviolet （XUV） pulse. The diffraction fringes are clearly present in the laser dressed XUV photoelectron spectra, strongly resembling the Airy diffraction pattern of optical waves. This phenomenon suggests a great potential of attosecond diffractometry. According to this scheme we also propose a simple method to determine the XUV pulse duration from the photoelectron spectra with a rather high resolution.

Phase Identification Using Series of Selected Area Diffraction Patterns and Energy Dispersive Spectrometry within TEM

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a very powerful technique for materials characteriza-tion, providing information relating to morphology, composition, and crystal structure. Selected area diffraction patterns (SADPs) are crystallographic data that can be obtained using a TEM in-strument. Conventional identification through SADP/TEM is tricky and tedious, thereby increasing the difficulty of phase identification. To establish a procedure for phase identification of known and unknown phases, in this study we examined two samples: one, a known phase, was Si with alignment;the other, unknown, was the TixOy phase at the 96.4Au-3Ni-0.6Ti interlayer/ yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) interface of a steel/96.4Au-3Ni-0.6Ti interlayer/YSZ joint. The procedures for phase identification of the known and unknown phases are described herein using a series of SADPs and energy dispersive spectrometry within TEM that would be useful for general researchers.

DETERMINATION OF SPACE GROUP OF PrCo_(12)B_6 COMPOUND BY CONVERGENT BEAM ELECTRON DIFFRACTION

The space group of PrCo_(12)B_6,compound has been determined using the convergent beam elec- tron diffraction method.The space group is found to be R3m.