Possibilities and Limitations of the Application of Atomic Resolution Electron Microscopy to Physical Problems

This presentation will focus on the possibilities and limitations of aberration-corrected electron microscopy applied to problems in the physical sciences. At first, the problems presented by the environments in which the sophisticated microscopes are placed will be discussed. This will be followed by considerations of both the influence of sample preparation on the recorded results, and ways in which these deleterious influences may be reduced. The main part of the presentation discusses what are the possibilities for spatially (i.e., atomically)-resolved imaging and spectroscopy in present-day advanced systems, using a number of studies as examples, including oxide multilayer systems, high entropy alloys, phase transformations in titanium alloys, and the examination of the nature of sublattice occupancies in ordered compounds. The lecture will conclude with a view to “game-changers” and possible novel systems.