Electron Imaging of Nanoscale Charge Distributions Induced by Femtosecond Light Pulses.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38701367.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c00773 and PMC identifier 11100287.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Surface charging is ubiquitously observable during in situ transmission electron microscopy of nonconducting specimens as a result of electron beam/sample interactions or optical stimuli and often limits the achievable image stability and spatial or spectral resolution. Here, we report on the electron-optical imaging of surface charging on a nanostructured surface following femtosecond multiphoton photoemission. By quantitatively extracting the light-induced electrostatic potential and studying the charging dynamics on relevant time scales, we gain insights into the details of the multiphoton photoemission process in the presence of an electrostatic background field. We study the interaction of the charge distribution with the high-energy electron beam and secondary electrons and propose a simple model to describe the interplay of electron- and light-induced processes. In addition, we demonstrate how to mitigate sample charging by simultaneously optically illuminating the sample.