The influence of objective lens aberrations in energy-loss spectrometry

The conditions under which the energy resolution and collection efficiency in electron energy-loss spectrometry are limited by the spherical and chromatic aberrations of the objective lens have been studied. It is shown that, for the optimum settings of the pre-spectrometer optics, the energy resolution will be of the same order in diffraction mode as it is in magnification mode. The influence of the aberrations on the practice of energy-loss spectroscopy is discussed, and it is demonstrated that the chromatic aberration can act as a broadband filter for energy-loss electrons.