Making the most of data at hand is a challenge that the inner scientist in all of us faces. As discussed in Chapter 10 of Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education (2008 Amer. Sci. Publ), data on atomic periodicity in images and diffraction patterns are no exception. Computers, and the modern informatic science of Bayesian model-selection, can in fact make such data on atom-scale periodicity much more accessible than it already is.
We are starting this page to help illustrate how tales of problem solving with newly-developed and mostly web-accessible tools can point the way toward analysis of data on your specimens with help from those same tools. To start with, for instance, we’ve developed an ImageJ macro called 4spots to help you capture “2 spacings and an angle” from any single crystal diffraction pattern or lattice image that comes your way.
In particular we address how to get the information you need with help from electrons, and things you might do with it like check for indexability with a candidate structure. Beyond that we’ll help you look toward: (i) ways to “go 3D” with your data acquisition and analysis, (ii) detective work on hidden periodicities & picometer strains using digital darkfield analyses intermediate between direct & reciprocal space, (iii) statistical analysis of lattice fringe visibility, and (iv) specimen density-mapping via zero-loss/deflection analysis of images taken with an energy-filtered TEM.
Please bear with us as for the moment this page is only a stub. /pf
Update: Now that Microscopy and Microanalysis 2012 has started, I've been asked to post selected ImageJ plugins including the 4spots macro, an instruction manual for 4spots, and a copy of our poster. Stay tuned... 31jul2012/pf