Electron holography can lend crucial insights to understanding the subtle manifestations of electro-magnetism in a wide range of materials. Whereas conventional microscopy is sensitive only to the intensity, holography reveals the phase changes in coherent electron wavefronts making it a unique tool to probe electric and magnetic fields on the nanometer scale. We have employed electron holography to characterize materials for mean inner potential measurements and also their electric and magnetic properties.

Electron holograms were acquired in a 300 kV FE-TEM under two optical conditions: the standard high resolution mode was employed for mean inner potential measurements; to examine the intrinsic electromagnetic states, a lower resolution mode was used whereby the objective lens is turned off and the diffraction lens images the specimen. Digitally acquired holograms were reconstructed with the HolograFREE software package.

Nanophase TiO2 particles generated in a flame burner system were found to have unusual central features. The rutile particles appear to contain faceted voids, raising the question whether the feature is truly a void or a secondary amorphous phase.