Pulsed Electron Holography

TL;DR

This paper introduces pulsed low-energy electron holography, enabling high-resolution, low-damage imaging of fragile biomolecules by rapidly acquiring and stacking holograms to enhance interference resolution into the sub-nanometer range.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel pulsed holography technique that significantly reduces exposure time and improves resolution for imaging delicate biological samples.

Findings

Achieved sub-nanometer interference resolution.

Recorded holograms with as short as 50 μs exposure.

Enhanced detection of high-order interference fringes.

Abstract

A technique of pulsed low-energy electron holography is introduced that allows for recording highly resolved holograms within reduced exposure times. Therefore, stacks of holograms are accumulated in a pulsed mode with individual acquisition times as short as 50 {\mu}s. Subsequently, these holograms are aligned and finally superimposed. The resulting holographic record reveals previously latent high-order interference fringes and thereby pushing interference resolution into the sub-nanometer regime. In view of the non-damaging character of low-energy electrons, the method is of particular interest for structural analysis of fragile biomolecules.