Dose-Fractionated Electron Ptychography for Atomic-Resolution Imaging Under Ultra-Low Dose

Dose-Fractionated Electron Ptychography for Atomic-Resolution Imaging Under Ultra-Low Dose | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Dose-Fractionated Electron Ptychography for Atomic-Resolution Imaging Under Ultra-Low Dose Xudong Pei, Yu Lei, Binghua Zhao, Yi Zhou, Ning Xu, Liqi Zhou, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7482155/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Acquiring atomic-level structural information from electron beam-sensitive materials such as two-dimensional crystals, zeolites, metal-organic frameworks, hybrid perovskites, and battery materials, remains a major challenge due to strict dose limits and high sensitivity to experimental errors. Electron ptychography is well suited for low-dose imaging thanks to its high dose efficiency and robustness to aberrations, yet achieving atomic resolution (<2 Å) below 100 e⁄Ų remains elusive. Here, we present a dose-fractionated ptychographic data acquisition and processing strategy that decouples the dose-per-frame from the total dose, enabling higher-resolution reconstructions under severe dose constraints. Our method achieves 1.58–2.72 Å resolution of single-layer MoS₂ at electron doses well below 100 e⁄Ų, and allows direct detection of sulfur vacancies using only one-fifth (1038 e⁄Ų) of the dose that conventional ptychographic framework typically required. This framework offers a robust, generalizable pathway for non-destructive structural analysis of a wide range of dose-sensitive materials including biological specimens under atomic resolution. Physical sciences/Materials science/Techniques and instrumentation/Microscopy/Transmission electron microscopy Physical sciences/Materials science/Techniques and instrumentation/Imaging techniques Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files sifinal.pdf Dose-Fractionated Electron Ptychography for Atomic-Resolution Imaging Under Ultra-Low Dose SupplementaryVideo1.mp4 Supplementary Video 1 SupplementaryVideo2.mp4 Supplementary Video 2 SupplementaryVideo3.mp4 Supplementary Video 3 SupplementaryVideo4.mp4 Supplementary Video 4 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7482155","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":509803270,"identity":"979a7fdc-5037-4f40-a22e-c4d64524b087","order_by":0,"name":"Xudong 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