Design for a high resolution electron energy loss microscope

•Design of a high resolution electron energy loss microscope.•Intense cold electron source.•Sub-micron spatial resolution and meV energy resolution.•Real space mapping of vibrational levels.•Reciprocal space mapping of phonon dispersion. An electron optical column has been designed for High Resolution Electron Energy Loss Microscopy (HREELM). The column is composed of electron lenses and a beam separator that are placed between an electron source based on a laser excited cesium atom beam and a time-of-flight (ToF) spectrometer or a hemispherical analyzer (HSA). The instrument will be able to perform full field low energy electron imaging of surfaces with sub-micron spatial resolution and meV energy resolution necessary for the analysis of local vibrational spectra. Thus, non-contact, real space mapping of microscopic variations in vibrational levels will be made possible. A second imaging mode will allow for the mapping of the phonon dispersion relations from microscopic regions defined by an appropriate field aperture.