Licensing Opportunity: Wavefront Distortion Correction in Microscopy Image

Invention Reference Number: 202405644 Distortion in scanning tunneling microscope (STM) images is an unavoidable problem. This technology is an algorithm to identify and correct distorted wavefronts in atomic resolution STM images. This algorithm can be used to correct nonlinear in-plane distortions without prior knowledge of the physical scanning parameters, the characteristics of the piezoelectric actuator, or individual atom positions.

Description This is a wavefront correction algorithm that provides a facile approach for correcting nonlinearly distortions in 2D lattice images in scanning tunneling microscopes. This allows correction of distorted STM images even when locating each atom position is challenging. In the correction algorithm, distorted wavefronts are easily identified using a wavefront vector field.

The algorithm then transforms distorted wavefronts into straight lines by moving each point in the STM image along the wavefront to preserve atomic order to produce a linearly distorted image, which can finally be corrected by a linear transformation.

Benefits Drastically reduces distortions Wavefront vector field can be generated even when the sample rate is low Method is complementary to existing post-processing algorithms, but does not require foreknown order or atomic lattice positions Does not require any physical scanning parameters Applicable to all topographic and spectroscopic data regardless of the nature of distortions Applications and Industries Scanning tunneling microscope manufacturers Electron microscope manufacturers STM users TEM users Atomic resolution instrumentation manufacturers Contact To learn more about this technology, email partnerships@ornl.gov or call 865-574-1051.