Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has reached ~ 50 picometer resolution in a high vacuum, enabling single-atom sensitive imaging of nanomaterials. Extending this capability to gaseous environments would allow for similar visualizations of nanomaterial dynamics under chemically reactive conditions. Here, we examine a new TEM system that maintains 50 pm resolution at pressures up to 1 mbar, demonstrated using nanocrystalline Au immersed in N2. The system features an open gas-cell with a four-stage differential pumping system, a 5th order aberration corrector for broad-beam TEM, a monochromatized electron beam, an ultra-stable microscope platform, Nelsonian low electron dose-rate illumination, and direct electron detection. Young fringe experiments and exit wave phase imaging confirm the atomic resolution and indicate location-dependent vibrational blur at surface terminations. Thus, this platform advances in situ and operando TEM studies of gas-surface interactions in diverse fields, including catalysis, corrosion, and crystal growth.
@article{arxiv.2508.04294,
title = {Open Gas-Cell Transmission Electron Microscopy at 50 pm Resolution},
author = {Idan Biran and Frederik Dam and Sophie Kargo Kaptain and Ruben Bueno Villoro and Maarten Wirix and Christian Kisielowski and Peter C. K. Vesborg and Jakob Kibsgaard and Thomas Bligaard and Christian D. Damsgaard and Joerg R. Jinschek and Stig Helveg},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.04294},
year = {2025}
}