| Scope |
Four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D STEM) has rapidly emerged as a transformative platform for quantitative materials characterization. By recording a full diffraction pattern at each probe position, 4D STEM enables rich, spatially resolved measurements of crystallography and microstructure, including mapping of crystal orientation and phase, elastic strain and rotation, local symmetry breaking and ordering, and mesoscale heterogeneity across large fields of view. When paired with advanced reconstruction approaches such as ptychography, 4D STEM can overcome conventional resolution limits and deliver high-fidelity phase imaging. More broadly, modern 4D STEM workflows enable quantitative mapping of electric and magnetic fields, as well as the detection and analysis of point and planar defects with a combination of high spatial resolution and statistically meaningful sampling. 4D STEM is applicable to complex material systems where traditional atomic resolution techniques fail, and is ideally suited for combination with in situ and operando techniques.
This symposium is timely because 4D STEM is both widely available to materials researchers in commercial systems and simultaneously the subject of rapid advances in instrumentation, method development, and software including artificial intelligence. The goal of this symposium is to bring together experts from the microscopy and materials communities to share the latest advances in 4D STEM methodologies for materials and to highlight impactful applications spanning both structural and functional materials (metals, ceramics, semiconductors, energy materials, soft and hybrid materials, and minerals). We welcome contributions that present (i) new 4D STEM techniques or analysis pipelines (including tutorial-style “how-to” talks), (ii) validation and metrology studies (accuracy, precision, uncertainty quantification, standards), and (iii) applications that reveal structure–property relationships or uncover materials information that was previously inaccessible.
Specific topics include:
• 4D STEM acquisition and detector innovations: scan strategies, fast/low-dose methods, direct electron detectors, dynamic range, and drift/distortion correction.
• Orientation/phase/strain mapping: virtual dark-field imaging, diffraction-based orientation mapping, strain/rotation metrology, and benchmarking against complementary methods.
• Local ordering and symmetry analysis: mapping subtle distortions, short-range order signatures, and heterogeneity in complex alloys, oxides, and other disordered/complex systems.
• Ptychography and phase reconstruction: high-resolution imaging, mixed-state/inelastic effects, thick-sample challenges, and practical workflows for routine use.
• Electric and magnetic field mapping: differential phase contrast (DPC), center-of-mass methods, field-sensitive imaging, and quantitative interpretation.
• Defect and interface characterization: point defects, dislocations, stacking faults, twins, grain boundaries, and planar defects analyzed via 4D datasets over large areas.
• In situ / operando 4D STEM: heating, biasing, mechanical testing, electrochemical cells, environmental cells, radiation effects, and time-resolved studies linking evolution to function.
• Data analytics and automation: machine learning, physics-informed models, uncertainty quantification, compressed sensing, high-throughput pipelines, and best practices for data sharing/reproducibility.
• Cross-materials applications: structure–property connections in metals, functional oxides, semiconductors, energy materials, minerals, and compositionally complex materials. |