Difraction in a scanning electron microscopie

Manipulation with the primary beam phase in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) or a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) has drawn significant attention in the microscopy community in the recent years. Although a few applications were found long before, some are still subjects of a future research. One of them is the use of electron vortex beams, which has very promising potential. It ranges from probing magnetic materials and manipulating with nanoparticles to spin polarization of a beam in an electron microscope.\nThe methods for producing electron vortex beams have undergone a lot of development in recent years as well. The most versatile way is holographic reconstruction using computer-generated holograms modifying either phase or amplitude. As the method is\nbased on diffraction, beam coherence is a very important parameter here. It is usually performed in TEM at energies of about 100 – 300 keV which are well suited for diffraction on artificial structures for two reasons. The coherence of the primary beam is often reasonable, and the diffraction pattern is easily observed. This is however not the case for a standard scanning electron microscope (SEM) with typical energy up to 30 keV