Lattice distortion analysis directly from high resolution transmission electron microscopy images - the LADIA program package

Direct strain mapping from high resolution transmission electron microscopy images is possible for coherent structures. At proper imaging conditions the intensity peaks in the image have a constant spatial relationship with the projected atom columns. This allows the determination of the geometry of the projected unit cell without comparison with image simulations. The fast procedure is particularly suited for the analysis of large areas. The software package LADIA is written in the PV-WAVE code and provides all necessary tools for image processing and analysis. Image intensity peaks are determined by a cross-correlation technique, which avoids problems from noise in the low spatial frequency range. The lower limit of strain that can be detected at a sampling rate of 44 pixels/nm is approximate to2%.