Contrast transfer function: Difference between revisions

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The '''contrast transfer function''' (CTF) mathematically describes how aberrations in a [[transmission electron microscope]] (TEM) modify the image of a sample.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|title = A brief look at imaging and contrast transfer|last = Wade|first = R. H.|date = October 1992|journal = Ultramicroscopy|doi = 10.1016/0304-3991(92)90011-8|pmid = |volume=46|issue = 1–4|pages=145–156}}</ref><ref name="Spence1982">Spence, John C. H. (1988 2nd ed) ''Experimental high-resolution electron microscopy'' (Oxford U. Press, NY) {{ISBN|0195054059}}.</ref><ref name="Reimer97">Ludwig Reimer (1997 4th ed) ''Transmission electron microscopy: Physics of image formation and microanalysis'' (Springer, Berlin) [https://books.google.com/books?id=3_84SkJXnYkC preview].</ref><ref name="Kirkland1998">Earl J. Kirkland (1998) ''Advanced computing in electron microscopy'' (Plenum Press, NY).</ref> This contrast transfer function (CTF) sets the resolution of [[high-resolution transmission electron microscopy]] (HRTEM), also known as phase contrast TEM.

By considering the recorded image as a CTF-degraded true object, describing the CTF allows the true object to be [[reverse-engineered]]. This is typically denoted CTF-correction, and is vital to obtain high resolution structures in three-dimensional electron microscopy, especially [[cryo-electron cryo-microscopy]]. Its equivalent in light-based optics is the [[optical transfer function]].

==Phase contrast in HRTEM==