Original Article

Benchmarking analytical electron ptychography methods for the low-dose imaging of beam-sensitive materials

¹ Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
² NANOlight Center of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
³ Department of Chemistry and center for Nanoscience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Butenandtstrasse 11, 81377 Munich, Germany

^* e-mail: hoelen.lalandecrobert@uantwerpen.be

Received: 6 December 2024
Accepted: 23 May 2025
Published online: 30 July 2025

Abstract

This publication presents an investigation of the performance of different analytical electron ptychography methods for low-dose imaging. In particular, benchmarking is performed for two model-objects, monolayer MoS₂ and apoferritin, by means of multislice simulations. Specific attention is given to cases where the individual diffraction patterns remain sparse. After a first rigorous introduction to the theoretical foundations of the methods, an implementation based on the scan-frequency partitioning of calculation steps is described, permitting a significant reduction of memory needs and high sampling flexibility. By analyzing the role of contrast transfer and illumination conditions, this work provides insights into the trade-off between resolution, signal-to-noise ratio and probe focus, as is necessary for the optimization of practical experiments. Furthermore, important differences between the different methods are demonstrated. Overall, the results obtained for the two model-objects demonstrate that analytical ptychography is an attractive option for the low-dose imaging of beam-sensitive materials.