Imaging the electron charge density in monolayer MoS2 at the Ångstrom scale

Martis J, Susarla S, Rayabharam A, Su C, Paule T, Pelz P, Huff C, Xu X, Li HK, Jaikissoon M, Chen V, Pop E, Saraswat K, Zettl A, Aluru NR, Ramesh R, Ercius P, Majumdar A (2023)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2023

Journal

Nature Communications Nature Publishing Group: Nature Communications

Book Volume: 14

Article Number: 4363

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39304-9

Abstract

Four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) has recently gained widespread attention for its ability to image atomic electric fields with sub-Ångstrom spatial resolution. These electric field maps represent the integrated effect of the nucleus, core electrons and valence electrons, and separating their contributions is non-trivial. In this paper, we utilized simultaneously acquired 4D-STEM center of mass (CoM) images and annular dark field (ADF) images to determine the projected electron charge density in monolayer MoS2. We evaluate the contributions of both the core electrons and the valence electrons to the derived electron charge density; however, due to blurring by the probe shape, the valence electron contribution forms a nearly featureless background while most of the spatial modulation comes from the core electrons. Our findings highlight the importance of probe shape in interpreting charge densities derived from 4D-STEM and the need for smaller electron probes.

Involved external institutions

Stanford University US United States (USA) (US) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) US United States (USA) (US) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign US United States (USA) (US) University of California, Berkeley US United States (USA) (US) University of Texas at Austin US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Martis, J., Susarla, S., Rayabharam, A., Su, C., Paule, T., Pelz, P.,... Majumdar, A. (2023). Imaging the electron charge density in monolayer MoS2 at the Ångstrom scale. Nature Communications, 14(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39304-9

MLA:

Martis, Joel, et al. "Imaging the electron charge density in monolayer MoS2 at the Ångstrom scale." Nature Communications 14.1 (2023).

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