Modern approaches to improving phase contrast electron microscopy

Jeremy J Axelrod; Jessie T Zhang; Petar N Petrov; Robert M Glaeser; Holger Müller

doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2024.102805

Modern approaches to improving phase contrast electron microscopy

Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2024 Mar 25:86:102805. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2024.102805. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jeremy J Axelrod¹, Jessie T Zhang², Petar N Petrov¹, Robert M Glaeser³, Holger Müller⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
² Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
³ Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Electronic address: hm@berkeley.edu.

PMID: 38531188
DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2024.102805

Abstract

Although defocus can be used to generate partial phase contrast in transmission electron microscope images, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) can be further improved by the development of phase plates which increase contrast by applying a phase shift to the unscattered part of the electron beam. Many approaches have been investigated, including the ponderomotive interaction between light and electrons. We review the recent successes achieved with this method in high-resolution, single-particle cryo-EM. We also review the status of using pulsed or near-field enhanced laser light as alternatives, along with approaches that use scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) with a segmented detector rather than a phase plate.

Publication types

Review