Reversible contrast in focus series of annular bright field images of a crystalline LiMn₂O₄ nanowire.

A through-focus series of annular bright field (ABF) images were observed simultaneously with high-angle annular dark field (HAADF) images of very thin lithium manganese oxide (LiMn₂O₄), a typical cathode material used in lithium ion batteries, using a spherical aberration corrected electron microscope with a 50 pm resolution (R005). The ABF images showed dark dips at the positions of Li and Mn--O atomic columns, which reversed to bright peaks when the defocus sign was changed, as commonly observed in phase contrast images. The optimal defocus for the ABF images was about 2 nm of over-focus, while that for the HAADF images was 2 nm of under-focus for an incident probe with a convergent semi-angle of 30 mrad. These experimental results are interpreted based on a weak-phase-object approximation.