Patent ID: 8841613

Claim:
A 4D electron tomography system comprising: a stage having one or more degrees of freedom; an electron source operable to provide electron pulses; electron optics operable to direct the electron pulses to impinge on a sample supported on the stage, wherein a pulse of the electron pulses impinges on the sample at a first time; a laser system operable to provide optical pulses; optics operable to direct the optical pulses to impinge on the sample, wherein a pulse of the optical pulses impinges on the sample at a second time; a detector operable to receive the electron pulses passing through the sample; a controller operable to independently modify an orientation of the stage and at least one of the first time or the second time; a memory operable to store sets of images associated with a predetermined delay time between the first time and the second time; and a processor operable to form a 4D tomographic image set from the sets of images.