Image formation in the scanning transmission electron microscope using object-conjugate detectors

The use of object-conjugate detectors in STEM encompasses the three-dimensional imaging technique of SCEM and the recently developed atomic resolution technique of R-STEM. Image formation in this optical geometry is analysed using geometric optics and wave optics, and the relationship between these theories is examined using Wigner distributions. It is shown that geometric optics accurately describes R-STEM and is also applicable to SCEM in a restricted sense.