Disentangling Coexisting Structural Order Through Phase Lock-In Analysis of Atomic-Resolution STEM Data

As a real-space technique, atomic-resolution STEM imaging contains both amplitude and geometric phase information about structural order in materials, with the latter encoding important information about local variations and heterogeneities present in crystalline lattices. Such phase information can be extracted using geometric phase analysis (GPA), a method which has generally focused on spatially mapping elastic strain. Here we demonstrate an alternative phase demodulation technique and its application to reveal complex structural phenomena in correlated quantum materials. As with other methods of image phase analysis, the phase lock-in approach can be implemented to extract detailed information about structural order and disorder, including dislocations and compound defects in crystals. Extending the application of this phase analysis to Fourier components that encode periodic modulations of the crystalline lattice, such as superlattice or secondary frequency peaks, we extract the behavior of multiple distinct order parameters within the same image, yielding insights into not only the crystalline heterogeneity but also subtle emergent order parameters such as antipolar displacements. When applied to atomic-resolution images spanning large (similar to 0.5 x 0.5 mu m(2)) fields of view, this approach enables vivid visualizations of the spatial interplay between various structural orders in novel materials.

Automated summary

This paper introduces a phase demodulation technique for studying structural order in materials, which extracts important information about local variations and heterogeneities in crystalline lattices. The technique can be used to analyze defects, dislocations, and superlattice structures in crystals.