| The aim of this work is two-fold: to help develop a digital interface linking a Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope to a minicomputer, and to apply this system, in conjunction with a sophisticated detector assembly, in a variety of new imaging modes.;The design is based on the need to simultaneously collect four separate channels of image data from the electron microscope, and to store this information in a form readily available to the application of modern digital image processing techniques. The data are received through an innovative detector system designed by Professors Cowley and Spence of this laboratory.;This system allows collection of image-forming signals which have never before been available. Such signals are used here to provide first-time experimental verification of a basic aspect of phase contrast imaging theory and further validation of a well-tested facet of the same theory. They are also used in the development of an original technique for the observation of supported metal catalysts, superior to any other existing method.;Further applications consist of expanding the digital system to collect other elusive information from the conventional detector arrangement, and incorporating a commercial hardware array processor to perform on-line operations on concurrently collected images.;The construction of the interface represents a cooperative effort in design between Martin Strahm, a first-class digital electronics engineer, and the author, a systems-level computer programmer.;The system remains flexible for future expansions as the need for special hardware and software may arise as the result of specific microscope applications. |
