Description

This is a Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction" (RHEED) image of an epitaxial thin film of an oxide material called "Strontium Titanate which was grown inside an ultra-high vacuum chamber using a technique called "Molecular Beam Epitax (MBE). Beautiful and sometime spooky electron diffraction patterns, such as the one showcased here, are formed when high energy electrons are incident on the surface of the thin film at very shallow incidence angles. The crystalline thin film acts as a diffraction grating and the diffracted electrons interfere constructively at regular angles to form such patterns.