Electron diffraction for chirality identification in spintronics
Gatan instrument used
The Stela® hybrid-pixel camera enables uncompromised diffraction imaging at low-beam energies. Stela uses the DECTRIS hybrid pixel technology to reveal hard-to-detect diffraction details with the highest signal-to-noise ratio via electron counting. Additionally, it captures low- and high-intensity diffraction peaks in a single frame leveraging its high-dynamic-range sensor.
Background
The field of spintronics has been drawing a great deal of attention in recent years because of its potential in applications such as data storage, telecommunications, and information processing [1]. Among spintronics, non-centrosymmetrics (NCS) show switchable spin split electronic band dispersions with external stimuli. NaCu5S3 (space group P6322) is one such NCS: a stable ferri-chiral compound that has been shown theoretically to display chirality-dependent spin splitting in the electronic structure. On the other hand, experimental chirality determination using electron microscopy has proven quite challenging, as detection of chirality (a three dimensional structural feature) in a simple two-dimensional transmission electron microscope projection is not possible.