This work describes the concepts, the mathematical framework and the implementation of the open source ALPHABETA software, a dedicated tool for calculating α and β tilt angles on any TEM double tilt stage. ALPHABETA provides an intuitive user interface to calibrate the orientation of the region of interest and to subsequently calculate the angle tilts to reach a zone axis, to perform a rotation around a given reflection, or to set up a 2‐beam or weak beam condition. The orientation of the sample on the stage and the tilt range reachable domain can be visualised in a stereographic projection plot. The accuracy of the method to reach a set of zone axis was evaluated and some case studies are presented. The tool significantly reduces time for tilting work as major tilts can be performed in image mode and reachable zones are beforehand indicated in the software. Besides facilitating the tilting to different zone axes, the software can be used for miscellaneous applications such as making dark field tilt series without specialised hardware.
[1]
M. Graef,et al.
Structure of Materials: An Introduction to Crystallography, Diffraction and Symmetry
,
2004
.
[2]
P. Midgley,et al.
Electron tomography and holography in materials science.
,
2009,
Nature materials.
[3]
M. Jenkins,et al.
Characterisation of Radiation Damage by Transmission Electron Microscopy
,
2000
.
[4]
Miloslav Klinger,et al.
Crystallographic Tool Box (CrysTBox): automated tools for transmission electron microscopists and crystallographers
,
2015,
Journal of applied crystallography.
[5]
T Duden,et al.
KSpaceNavigator as a tool for computer-assisted sample tilting in high-resolution imaging, tomography and defect analysis.
,
2011,
Ultramicroscopy.
[6]
Richard A. Vaia,et al.
Framework for nanocomposites
,
2004
.
[7]
Tadej Bajd,et al.
Rotation and Orientation
,
2013
.