Electron diffraction covering a wide angular range from Bragg diffraction to small-angle diffraction

摘要

We construct an electron optical system to investigate Bragg diffraction (the crystal lattice plane, 10(-2) to 10(-3) rad) with the objective lens turned off by adjusting the current in the intermediate lenses. A crossover was located on the selected-area aperture plane. Thus, the dark-field imaging can be performed by using a selected-area aperture to select Bragg diffraction spots. The camera length can be controlled in the range of 0.8-4 m without exciting the objective lens. Furthermore, we can observe the magnetic-field dependence of electron diffraction using the objective lens under weak excitation conditions. The diffraction mode for Bragg diffraction can be easily switched to a small-angle electron diffraction mode having a camera length of more than 100 m. We propose this experimental method to acquire electron diffraction patterns that depict an extensive angular range from 10(-2) to 10(-7) rad. This method is applied to analyze the magnetic microstructures in three distinct magnetic materials, i.e. a uniaxial magnetic structure of BaFe10.35Sc1.6Mg0.05O19, a martensite of a Ni-Mn-Ga alloy, and a helical magnetic structure of Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe12O22.