Cathodoluminescence (CL)
A STEM probe is used to stimulate emission of photons from cathodoluminecent materials for spatially-resolved CL studies. Use of new detectors allows parallel acquisition of the visible-UV spectrum from each analysis point, so enabling spectral mapping of the specimen (“hyperspectral imaging”). This method is, for example, of interest for investigating the influence of different types of defects on optical emission of cathodoluminescent materials at the nanometre scale, and for examining low-dimensional semiconductor structures such as quantum dots and quantum wells.