Calculating small-angle scattering intensity functions from electron-microscopy images

Abstract

We outline procedures to calculate small-angle scattering (SAS) intensity functions from 2-dimensional electron-microscopy (EM) images. Two types of scattering systems were considered: (a) the sample is a set of particles confined to a plane; or (b) the sample is modelled as parallel, infinitely long cylinders that extend into the image plane. In each case, an EM image is segmented into particle instances and the background, whereby coordinates and morphological parameters are computed and used to calculate the constituents of the SAS-intensity function. We compare our results with experimental SAS data, discuss limitations, both general and case specific, and outline some applications of this method which could potentially complement experimental SAS.