Digital cryogenic transmission electron microscopy: an advanced tool for direct imaging of complex fluids

Digital imaging cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) has become an important extension of TEM at cryogenic temperatures. In this paper, we describe the advantages of the technique and demonstrate its use in the study of two micellar systems. We show how details that were impossible or difficult to image, can be easily observed by this novel technique. We emphasize that the introduction of digital imaging to cryo-TEM is not merely a small technical improvement, but does promise to expand the capabilities of TEM of complex fluids in a most significant way.