Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy in the Electron Microscope: Present State of Affairs

In the transmission electron microscope, among the various signals resulting from the interaction between the primary electron beam of well defined energy E0 and the specimen, the energy spectral distribution in the transmitted beam contains useful additional informations concerning the physical or chemical properties of the sample. As a consequence the insertion of a proper energy filtering device on any existing microscope column opens new fields of investigation from the fundamental understanding of the image formation mechanisms or the determination of the excitations spectrum in a solid to the development of a localized microanalytical technique at the spatially resolved scale of the electron microscope.