The application of image pickup and storage‐display techniques to the high resolution electron microscope

SUMMARY The advantages of using image‐intensifiers and other image pickup systems as an aid to the observation of the image in the electron microscope have been known for many years, and a review of a number of the systems employed so far is presented here. The additional advantages to be gained by the use of a sensitive TV pickup tube in conjunction with a storage tube are discussed, with particular reference to a proposed system for use with a high voltage, high resolution, electron microscope. It is shown that the prime limitation to the signal‐to‐noise ratio obtainable in the image pickup‐display chain is due to the noise in the electron microscope signal itself, and that with the proposed pickup and storage tube arrangement a field of 800 by 600 picture points, with adequate signal‐to‐noise ratio, should be obtainable for a current density of 10−9 A/m2 in the image plane of the microscope if an integration period of about 3 s is used.