Volcano structure in atomic resolution core-loss images

A feature commonly present in simulations of atomic resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy images in the scanning transmission electron microscope is the volcano or donut structure. In the past this has been understood in terms of a geometrical perspective using a dipole approximation. It is shown that the dipole approximation for core-loss spectroscopy begins to break down as the probe forming aperture semi-angle increases, necessitating the inclusion of higher order terms for a quantitative understanding of volcano formation. Using such simulations we further investigate the mechanisms behind the formation of such structures in the single atom case and extend this to the case of crystals. The cubic SrTiO3 crystal is used as a test case to show the effects of nonlocality, probe channelling and absorption in producing the volcano structure in crystal images. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.