In-situ and liquid cell transmission electron microscopy seeks to capture images and dynamics of materials in near-native environments. While maximizing contrast has been the subject of numerous studies on cryogenically preserved samples for cryo-EM, an optimal imaging regime has not been demonstrated empirically for fully hydrated soft matter or biological samples imaged using liquid cell electron microscopy. Additionally, recent questions about the role of the electron beam in driving or damaging physiological events of interest necessitates further investigation of electron beam/cell interactions in the liquid state. In this talk I will present and compare experimentally determined dose dependence of contrast and SNR for multiple liquid cell and cryogenic imaging schemes. This detailed analysis highlights the trade-off between feature detection, dose and resolution for liquid cell (S)TEM and informs the types of experiments and dynamics that can be reasonably interpreted.

Comparing contrast and electron irradiance limits for soft matter in cryogenic and in-situ liquid-cell electron microscopy

256th National Meeting (2018)

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