Ultrafast Electron Microscopy at the Space and Time Limit

Abstract

With advnaces in spatial resolution reaching the atomic scale, 2 and 3 dimensional (D) imaging in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has become an essential methodology in various fields of research providing static structural information. Now it has become possible to integrated the ultrahigh temporal resolution (fourth demension) to the 3D spatial resolution of TEM. Here, presented is the concept and recent application of time-resolved imaging in ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM), which made it possible to directly visualized a single gold nanorod (Au NR) undergoing plasmonic-acoustic vibration of sub-nanometer amplitude and picosecond period, upon femtosecond-pulsed light excitation for the first time. The unique intergration of a direct electron detector with ultrafast electron microscopy in combination with the achievement of control over the quality of the pulsed electron beam enabled unprecedented spatiotemporal imaging of characteristic vibration of each nanostructure infertaces with a substrate, which has beenveiled in ensemble measurements in solution.