Cylindrically symmetric rotating crystals observed in crystallization process of InSiO film

The Kikuchi bands arise from Bragg diffraction of incoherent electrons scattered within a crystalline specimen and can be observed in both the transmission and reflection modes of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Converging, rocking, or grazing incidence beams must be used to generate divergent electron sources to obtain the Kikuchi pattern. This paper report the observation of Kikuchi pattern from SEM images of an exceptional rotating crystal with continuous rotation in the local crystal direction and satisfying cylindrical symmetry, named a cylindrically symmetric rotating crystal. By retracing the Kikuchi line pattern, it is possible to obtain the lattice structure information of the presented sample from the conventional SEM images. SEM images of cylindrically symmetric rotating crystals reflect the interactions between electrons and the sample in both the real- and momentum-space. It is a very interesting and representative new case for the study of the contrast mechanism in SEM. Unveiling a unique rotating crystal, the study expands the understanding of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) contrast mechanisms by simultaneously capturing real-space morphology and momentum-space lattice information in a single image.