Digital image processing of crystalline specimens examined by electron microscopy

Crystalline specimens imaged in the electron microscope are analysed using digital processing. Some principles of structural analysis using the method of Fourier decomposition are discussed. Complementary techniques, such as enhancement by gradient and Laplacian operators, have been found useful in analysing electron micrographs. The application of these techniques to some problems in Materials Science and Biology are reviewed. By selecting and phase-correcting spots in the computed diffraction pattern, it was possible to localize atoms, molecules, and their defective arrangement in evaporated gold, sputter-deposited tungsten films, and single crystals of cadmium selenide. Digital processing based on the theory of helical diffraction was used to explore the three-dimensional arrangement of molecules in cellular components of alveolar soft part sarcoma, Hirano bodies, and neurofibrillar tangles in the human brain.