Measurement and Localization with the Fluorescent Screen Alone

1898 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 77-80
Author(s):  
Ernest E. Payne
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
J. A. Hugo ◽  
V. A. Phillips

A continuing problem in high resolution electron microscopy is that the level of detail visible to the microscopist while he is taking a picture is inferior to that obtainable by the microscope, readily readable on a photographic emulsion and visible in an enlargement made from the plate. Line resolutions, of 2Å or better are now achievable with top of the line 100kv microscopes. Taking the resolution of the human eye as 0.2mm, this indicates a need for a direct viewing magnification of at least one million. However, 0.2mm refers to optimum viewing conditions in daylight or the equivalent, and certainly does not apply to a (colored) image of low contrast and illumination level viewed on a fluorescent screen through a glass window by the dark-adapted eye. Experience indicates that an additional factor of 5 to 10 magnification is needed in order to view lattice images with line spacings of 2 to 4Å. Fortunately this is provided by the normal viewing telescope supplied with most electron microscopes.


Author(s):  
William J. Baxter

In this form of electron microscopy, photoelectrons emitted from a metal by ultraviolet radiation are accelerated and imaged onto a fluorescent screen by conventional electron optics. image contrast is determined by spatial variations in the intensity of the photoemission. The dominant source of contrast is due to changes in the photoelectric work function, between surfaces of different crystalline orientation, or different chemical composition. Topographical variations produce a relatively weak contrast due to shadowing and edge effects.Since the photoelectrons originate from the surface layers (e.g. ∼5-10 nm for metals), photoelectron microscopy is surface sensitive. Thus to see the microstructure of a metal the thin layer (∼3 nm) of surface oxide must be removed, either by ion bombardment or by thermal decomposition in the vacuum of the microscope.


Author(s):  
George Christov ◽  
Bolivar J. Lloyd

A new high intensity grid cap has been designed for the RCA-EMU-3 electron microscope. Various parameters of the new grid cap were investigated to determine its characteristics. The increase in illumination produced provides ease of focusing on the fluorescent screen at magnifications from 1500 to 50,000 times using an accelerating voltage of 50 KV.The EMU-3 type electron gun assembly consists of a V-shaped tungsten filament for a cathode with a thin metal threaded cathode shield and an anode with a central aperture to permit the beam to course the length of the column. The cathode shield is negatively biased at a potential of several hundred volts with respect to the filament. The electron beam is formed by electrons emitted from the tip of the filament which pass through an aperture of 0.1 inch diameter in the cap and then it is accelerated by the negative high voltage through a 0.625 inch diameter aperture in the anode which is at ground potential.


Author(s):  
J. E. Johnson

In the early years of biological electron microscopy, scientists had their hands full attempting to describe the cellular microcosm that was suddenly before them on the fluorescent screen. Mitochondria, Golgi, endoplasmic reticulum, and other myriad organelles were being examined, micrographed, and documented in the literature. A major problem of that early period was the development of methods to cut sections thin enough to study under the electron beam. A microtome designed in 1943 moved the specimen toward a rotary “Cyclone” knife revolving at 12,500 RPM, or 1000 times as fast as an ordinary microtome. It was claimed that no embedding medium was necessary or that soft embedding media could be used. Collecting the sections thus cut sounded a little precarious: “The 0.1 micron sections cut with the high speed knife fly out at a tangent and are dispersed in the air. They may be collected... on... screens held near the knife“.


1995 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 12-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth H. Downing

Over the last several years the long-awaited revolution in direct-digital readout systems has begun, with the introduction of efficient slow-scan CCD cameras. Earlier, the introduction of video cameras to electron microscopes had brought a quantum leap in the speed and efficiency of carrying out a host of operations. The high sensitivity of the video cameras provided the ability to see the image in much more detail and at a lower beam intensity than had been previously possible by viewing the fluorescent screen. The ability to assess, on line, characteristics such as specimen quality and image focus, even qualitatively, gave feedback to the operator that previously took hours to obtain. Due to the low resolution of these video systems, however, they were rarely useful for data recording.


In the transmission electron microscope, as shown in figure 1 (Nixon 1962), the electron gun at the top illuminates the specimen with the beam angle controlled by the condenser lens. The lenses below the specimen are used to magnify the image of the specimen which is viewed on the final screen at many thousand times magnification. If a second electron gun is placed below the fluorescent screen at the bottom of the column and the electron beam is projected upwards through the same lenses this second electron source will be reduced in size by the same amount that the specimen image is magnified. This effect can be observed with both electron guns on at the same time and demonstrates the reversibility of rays through electron lens systems. In this way the resolved point in the specimen image on the fluorescent screen or on the photographic plate is equal to the focused electron probe in the plane of the specimen.


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