Local Structure Analysis of Metallic Glasses by Angstrom Beam Electron Diffraction Using Aberration Corrected STEM

Abstract

Local structural order in a metallic glass was investigated by Angstrom beam electron diffraction using an aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscope. The coherent electron probe with a diameter of 0.3 - 0.4 nm was successfully obtained by using Ronchigram method. The fine electron probe enables us to pick up Angstrom-scale local structure information which cannot be obtained by conventional diffraction methods and thereby provide a direct evidence of short- to medium-range order in metallic glasses with the help of ab-initio molecular dynamics simulation.