Diffraction of electrons by metal crystals and by mica

Abstract

The object of the research was to study the spot patterns produced when an electron beam of homogeneous velocity ~ 30 kV is transmitted through a thin crystalline film. Such spot patterns were first reported by Kikuchi, and their importance lies in the fact that they are regarded as being due to single crystals of matter; the study of the diffraction of electrons by single crystals must necessarily precede the exact explanation of the Debye-Scherrer patterns obtained when random aggregates are employed. The results described below have a direct bearing on the latter problem. Electron diffraction spot patterns due to the transmission of 30 kV electrons have been studied by Thomson, Kirchner, Trillat and Hirsch, Lassen. But the interpretations of these pseudo-two-dimensional effects has remained uncertain.