Progress in ultrahigh energy resolution EELS

Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in the electron microscope has progressed remarkably in the last five years. Advances in monochromator and spectrometer design have improved the energy resolution attainable in a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) to 4.2 meV, and new applications of ultrahigh energy resolution EELS have not lagged behind. They include vibrational spectroscopy in the electron microscope, a field that did not exist 5 years ago but has now grown very substantially. Notable examples include vibrational mapping with about 1 nm spatial resolution, analyzing the momentum dependence of vibrational states in very small volumes, determining the local temperature of the sample from the ratio of energy gains to energy losses, detecting hydrogen and analyzing its bonding, probing radiation-sensitive materials with minimized damage by aloof spectroscopy and leap-frog scanning, and identifying biological molecules with different isotopic substitutions. We review the instrumentation advances, provide a summary of key applications, and chart likely future directions.