Technological opportunities are explored to enhance detection schemes in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) that build on the detection of single-electron scattering events across the typical spectrum of interdisciplinary applications. They range from imaging with high spatiotemporal resolution to diffraction experiments at the window to quantum mechanics, where the wave-particle dualism of single electrons is evident. At the ultimate detection limit, where isolated electrons are delivered to interact with solids, we find that the beam current dominates damage processes instead of the deposited electron charge, which can be exploited to modify electron beam-induced sample alterations. The results are explained by assuming that all electron scattering are inelastic and include phonon excitation that can hardly be distinguished from elastic electron scattering. Consequently, a coherence length and a related coherence time exist that reflect the interaction of the electron with the sample and change linearly with energy loss. Phonon excitations are of small energy (<100 meV), but they occur frequently and scale with beam current in the irradiated area, which is why we can detect their contribution to beam-induced sample alterations and damage.

The charge-coupled devices used in electron microscopy are coated with a scintillating crystal that gives rise to a severe modulation transfer function (MTF). Exact knowledge of the MTF is imperative for a good correspondence between image simulation and experiment. We present a practical method to measure the MTF above the Nyquist frequency from the beam blocker's shadow image. The image processing has been fully automated and the program is made public. The method is successfully tested on three cameras with various beam blocker shapes.

During several hundred years of burial in the soil, glasses, especially those with medieval compositions, develop heavily corroded surfaces, showing phenomena such as local pitting, laminated layers and browning effects. For this study the damage phenomena have been characterised for three original glasses, using conventional methods (light microscopy and SEM of the surface and cross sections) and microfocus X-ray computed tomography (mCT), a new non-destructive analytical technique.

The degradation of glass in the soil depends on a variety of parameters, concerned with the glass itself and with the burial environment. Since synergetic effects may complicate any mechanistic studies, laboratory experiments have been carried out under controlled conditions.

Humid soil environments with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5 lead to the development of local microcracks on the surface, whereas more alkaline soil conditions (pH 8.0 to 9.0) favour the formation of laminated structures. The conclusions of the paper focus on the effect of glass composition (model glasses and archaeological glasses), soil conditions (variation of pH) and exposure time (23 months versus several centuries).