Electron diffractive imaging of nano-objects using a guided method with a dynamic support

We present a phase recovery technique that utilizes a guiding method with a dynamic support to reconstruct the shape and exit wave of a single MgO nanoparticle in a coherent electron diffraction experiment. The proposed method provides an optimal solution deduced from the electron diffraction pattern alone. The recovered shape has spatial resolution 3.1 nm. The complex exit wave encodes the projected atomic structure of the nanocrystal with resolution about 0.15 nm, and agrees with a multislice simulation. The possibility of imaging nanosized objects at diffraction-limited resolution using a field emission electron microscope is thus demonstrated. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3227837]