Li, P., Batey, D. and Rodenburg, J. (2019) An X-ray ptycho-tomography model of ‘Seeing order in “amorphous” materials’. Ultramicroscopy, 203. pp. 88-94. ISSN 0304-3991
Abstract
The nature of the atomic structure of many non-crystalline materials remains a long-standing open question. We use X-ray scattering to model electron images of amorphous materials, where the analogue ‘atoms’ consist of 1μm diameter glass beads. The beads form a substantially random close-packed structure, but are partially ordered in places. X-ray ptycho-tomography reveals the exact position of the beads in 3D and so can be used to compare the modelled electron image with full knowledge of the underlying real structure. Using this, we repeat an experiment reported by Archie Howie and colleagues in 1978 that sought to test for real structure in bright-field electron images of amorphous materials; we demonstrate the validity of the technique, at least in the case of the resolution of the microscopes available at that time and the first Born approximation. We also illustrate how extremely demanding it would have been to infer 3D structure of amorphous material from pairs of stereoscopic images obtained with the same experimental kit: an approach that Archie proposed in the 1970s. We briefly discuss the possibility of using electron ptycho-tomography to solve the amorphous structure problem.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Elsevier. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Ultramicroscopy. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL (EPSRC) EP/I022562/1 ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL (EPSRC) EP/E034055/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Feb 2019 14:08 |
Last Modified: | 17 Nov 2021 11:54 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.ultramic.2019.02.006 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:142327 |