Small-angle electron scattering in the transmission electron microscope

Two methods for performing small-angle electron scattering (SAES) experiments in transmission electron microscopes are described: the long-camera-length method and the selected-area-diffraction method. It is shown experimentally that angular resolutions of a few microradians and a few tenths of milliradians, respectively, are easily obtained by these two methods. A number of examples of the application of SAES to problems in materials science are presented. The use of new high-brightness electron sources is expected to produce significant increases in angular resolution, and the use of electron-energy analyzers will permit the separation of most of the inelastic contribution to the SAES intensity distribution.