Combined electron microscopy and energy loss analysis of glass

The technique of combined electron microscopy and energy loss analysis has been applied to the study of glasses. Several silica-based glass systems have been examined, some structurally featureless, others showing phase separation in the form of either crystallites or amorphous droplets. By comparing the energy loss spectra of glass phases with the spectra obtained by calibration experiments on known materials regions in the glass can be identified. The spatial resolution for particle identification of this method is ∼ 10 nm, an order of magnitude better than the spatial resolution of other comparable techniques.