https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap/2025018
Original Article
Benchmarking analytical electron ptychography methods for the low-dose imaging of beam-sensitive materials
1
Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
2
NANOlight Center of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
3
Department of Chemistry and center for Nanoscience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Butenandtstrasse 11, 81377 Munich, Germany
* e-mail: [email protected]
Received:
6
December
2024
Accepted:
23
May
2025
Published online: 30 July 2025
This publication presents an investigation of the performance of different analytical electron ptychography methods for low-dose imaging. In particular, benchmarking is performed for two model-objects, monolayer MoS2 and apoferritin, by means of multislice simulations. Specific attention is given to cases where the individual diffraction patterns remain sparse. After a first rigorous introduction to the theoretical foundations of the methods, an implementation based on the scan-frequency partitioning of calculation steps is described, permitting a significant reduction of memory needs and high sampling flexibility. By analyzing the role of contrast transfer and illumination conditions, this work provides insights into the trade-off between resolution, signal-to-noise ratio and probe focus, as is necessary for the optimization of practical experiments. Furthermore, important differences between the different methods are demonstrated. Overall, the results obtained for the two model-objects demonstrate that analytical ptychography is an attractive option for the low-dose imaging of beam-sensitive materials.
Key words: Electron ptychography / beam damage / event-driven detection / low-dose imaging
© EDP Sciences, 2025
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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