Seminar: Recent progress in monochromated STEM-EELS

Engineering the structural or chemical architecture of functional materials at the nano or even atomic level enables emergent properties that rely on the interplay between fundamental properties of matter such as charge, local atomic-scale chemistry, and recently spin. Probing these effects directly with monochromated electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), which offers the ability to map materials and atomic structures with an angstrom size electron beam and an energy resolution for EELS under 5meV, requires the use of advanced acquisition strategies including the use of direct electron detectors for improved sensitivity, or experimental geometries such as off-axis 'dark-field' EELS. This presentation will review some of these recent advances and results in high-resolution STEM EELS on prototypical systems including topological insulator thin films or encapsulated atomic or molecular nano-systems.