4D-STEM (Four-Dimensional Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy) is an emerging technology in materials characterisation. 4D-STEM uses a focused probe of known convergence to capture a 2D electron diffraction pattern at each scan position, thus recording a 4D dataset of the STEM probe in real space (an image in x and y) and for every real space dwell or pixel an image in diffraction space (kx and ky). Recording complete diffraction information at each probe position, allows (with some levels of post processing) the extraction of multiple aspects of sample information (even at low dose) such as crystal phase, orientation, strain, and local electric and magnetic fields. In addition, it can be used to improve image resolution, via ptychographic methods, and be correlated with local chemical information derived from simultaneous energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and/or electron energy loss (EELS) spectrometries (spectrum-imaging). As a result, applications of 4D-STEM are rapidly growing and bringing benefits to a range of research areas.
Applications of 4D-STEM is a workshop to be held in Leeds on 16th and 17th Sep 2025 and is organised jointly by the Royal Microscopical Society and the Electron Microscopy and Analysis Group of the Institute of Physics. The workshop is kindly sponsored by Tescan.
The purpose of this workshop is to highlight the applications of 4D-STEM across a broad range of materials classes, both hard and soft, and by demonstrating the micro- and nano-structural information that can be derived and linked to the processing and performance of materials.
Over two days, the workshop will comprise both keynote and invited talks from active researchers in the field, contributed poster presentations and demonstrations on the TESCAN TENSOR, the world’s first dedicated multimodal analytical STEM microscope optimized for 4D-STEM workflows and enhanced by integrated and fully automated beam precession.
Event Sponsored by
Scientific Organisers
Laura Clark
Since 2022, Laura is a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of York, where she is developing 4D-STEM imaging of beam-sensitive materials (https://www.york.ac.uk/physics-engineering-technology/people/lauraclark/).
Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Leeds working in the LEMAS facility within the School of Chemical and Process Engineering, to develop 4D-STEM imaging of beam-sensitive materials.
She received her BSc and MSc in Physics from the University of York, before completing her PhD in the EMAT lab of the University of Antwerp. During her PhD she developed methods to generate and quantitatively analyse electron vortex beams in transmission electron microscopes. Subsequently she held postdoctoral positions at Monash University and the University of Glasgow, where she developed differential phase contrast STEM imaging methods, before holding an ESTEEM3 postdoctoral position at the University of Oxford, and then a subsequent Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship at the University of Leeds, developing 4D-STEM data analysis methods.
As the representative from the IOP’s electron microscopy and analysis group (EMAG) on the RMS-ECR committee, she aims to improve integration between the two communities.
Sean Collins
Sean Collins is a University Academic Fellow in the Bragg Centre for Materials Research, the School of Chemical and Process Engineering, and the School of Chemistry at the University of Leeds. Sean leads a group specialising in electron microscopy for analytical microscopy and microstructure characterisation in molecular and low-density materials from organic semiconductors to zeolites. Sean’s research interests span imaging, diffraction, and electron beam spectroscopy in two and three dimensions. Originally from the United States, Sean moved to the UK in 2012 to pursue a PhD in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. During his PhD, Sean developed electron energy loss spectroscopy for quantitative, three-dimensional imaging of surface plasmons in metal nanoparticles. Sean is a member of the SuperSTEM Advisory Committee and also a user at the electron Physical Sciences Imaging Centre at the Diamond Light Source. An LGBT+ microscopist, Sean is interested in working toward greater inclusion and equity in science and engineering.
Andy Brown
Andy is a Professor in the School of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Leeds and has a background in the application of analytical transmission electron microscopy to the characterization of materials, focusing more recently on nanoparticles and beam sensitive materials.
Rik Brydson
Rik holds a chair in the Institute for Materials Research (IMR) in the School of Process Environmental and Materials Engineering at the University of Leeds. He heads the NanoCharacterisation group based around the Leeds Electron Microscopy and Spectroscopy (LEMAS) centre which is shared between Materials and Earth Sciences and also acts as an EPSRC facility for external UK researchers. He has a general research interest in high spatial resolution chemical analysis in nanostructured materials, and has a current research h index of 32 with over 25 years research experience in nanomaterials characterisation. He has managed extensive national and international collaborations including being current consortium leader for the UK National Facility for Aberration corrected Electron Microscopy, SuperSTEM at Daresbury.
Rik is also on the Management Board of the European Microscopy Society. He has written an RMS Handbook on Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (Bios /Taylor and Francis 2001), has co-written a book on “Nanoscale Science and Technology" (Wiley 2005), edited a recent RMS book on Analytical Aberration-corrected Transmission Electron Microscopy with Wiley and has contributed a number of other chapters in specialist books on electron microscopy by other professional bodies covering Physics, Chemistry and Engineering. In recent years his research interests have focused on applying high spatial resolution characterisation methods (particularly TEM and EELS) to the nanochemical analysis of softer, more radiation sensitive materials.
RMS Event Contact
