Kinematical theory of images from polycrystalline and random-network structures

Kinematical electron microscope images to be expected from the Polk continuous random-network model and from a polycrystalline cluster have been computed. Dark-field images of both models show qualitatively similar speckle patterns. Fringes are observed in bright-field images of thin polycrystals (t≲ 40Å), but they disappear in thicker samples and are not observed in any of the Polk-model images. The experimental observation of fringes therefore cannot be explained by the current theory, possibly because it does not take account of the angular spread of illumination. Except perhaps in very thin specimens, it seems impossible at present to draw any reliable conclusions about the local atomic arrangement in amorphous materials by simple examination of electron micrographs.