Semiclassical TEM image formation in phase space

Abstract

Current developments in TEM such as high-resolution imaging at low acceleration voltages and large fields of view, the ever larger capabilities of hardware aberration correction and the systematic shaping of electron beams require accurate descriptions of TEM imaging in terms of wave optics. Since full quantum mechanic solutions have not yet been established for, e.g., the theory of aberrations, we are exploring semiclassical image formation in the TEM from the perspective of quantum mechanical phase space, here. Firstly, we use two well-known semiclassical approximations, Miller's semiclassical algebra and the frozen Gaussian method, for describing the wave optical generalization of arbitrary geometric aberrations, including nonisoplanatic and slope aberrations. Secondly, we demonstrate that the Wigner function representation of phase space is well suited to also describe incoherent aberrations as well as the ramifications of partial coherence due to the emission process at the electron source. We identify a close relationship between classical phase space and Wigner function distortions due to aberrations as well as classical brightness and quantum mechanical purity.