Correlative Spectromicroscopy and Tomography for Biomedical Applications Involving Electron, Ion, and Soft X-ray Microscopies

Abstract

Many important scientific and technical problems are best addressed using multiple, microscopy-based analytical techniques that combine the strengths of complementary methods. Here, we provide two examples from biomedical challenges: unravelling the attachment zone between dental implants and bone, and uncovering the mechanism of Alzheimer's disease. They combine synchrotron-based scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) with transmission electron microscopy ((S)TEM), electron tomography (ET), EELS tomography, and/or atom probe tomography (APT). STXM provides X-ray absorption based chemical sensitivity at mesoscale resolution (10–30 nm), which complements higher spatial resolution electron microscopy and APT.