Imaging with ghostly electrons

Abstract

Electron Imaging Ghost imaging is a computational imaging approach that uses correlations between a signal beam that interacts with a sample and a reference beam that doesn't. The correlations are then used to reconstruct an image of the sample and can, in principle, be used to image samples with very weak signal beams that might otherwise be damaged with a typical probe beam. Already demonstrated for optics and atoms, Li et al. now extend the method of ghost imaging to electrons. To circumvent the difficulty of splitting an electron beam, they instead used a structured electron beam to probe the sample. They show that a reconstructed image of a sample with a lower electron dose than that used in direct imaging methods can be faithfully produced. This technique could reduce acquisition time and avoid damaging sensitive samples in electron imaging applications. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121 , 114801 (2018).