Phonon vibrations probed using the electron microscope
- Abstract number
- 269
- Corresponding Email
- [email protected]
- Session
- EMAG - Functional Materials
- Authors
- Professor Rebecca Nicholls (1)
- Affiliations
-
1. Department of Materials, Oxford University
- Keywords
EELS, phonons, electron energy loss spectroscopy, vibrational spectroscopy
- Abstract text
Advances in hardware mean that we are now able to probe phonon vibrations using the electron microscope. Spectra can be collected with high spatial resolution from volumes of material much small than can be used for analysis with X-rays or neutrons. Interpreting the ultra-low-loss electron energy loss spectra (EELS) that contain the phonon vibrations is not always straight forward and simulation can help extract the maximum information from the data. There are several different approaches to modelling phonon EELS, and in this presentation I will focus on spectra simulated from first principles. I will discuss the approaches taken to modelling different experimental geometries including aloof spectra obtained from molecular crystals.