Ultrafast electron energy-loss spectroscopy in transmission electron microscopy

TL;DR

This paper reviews ultrafast electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in transmission electron microscopy, highlighting its recent advances, experimental techniques, and potential for dynamic, nanoscale chemical and structural analysis.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art ultrafast EELS techniques and discusses their applications and future prospects in material science.

Findings

Ultrafast EELS enables dynamic nanoscale chemical analysis.

Recent techniques achieve combined energy, time, and spatial resolution.

Potential for transformative studies of nanostructure evolution.

Abstract

In the quest for dynamic multimodal probing of a material's structure and functionality, it is critical to be able to quantify the chemical state on the atomic and nanoscale using element specific electronic and structurally sensitive tools such as electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). Ultrafast EELF, with combined energy, time, and spatial resolution in a transmission electron microscope, has recently enabled transformative studies of photo excited nanostructure evolution and mapping of evanescent electromagnetic fields. This article aims to describe the state of the art experimental techniques in this emerging field and its major uses and future applications.