TY - JOUR A1 - Feng, W. A1 - Gemming, T. A1 - Giebeler, L. A1 - Qu, J. A1 - Weinel, Kristina A1 - Agudo Jácome, Leonardo A1 - Büchner, B. A1 - Gonzalez-Martinez, I. T1 - Influence of magnetic field on electron beam-induced Coulomb explosion of gold microparticles in transmission electron microscopy JF - Ultramicroscopy N2 - In this work we instigated the fragmentation of Au microparticles supported on a thin amorphous carbon film by irradiating them with a gradually convergent electron beam inside the Transmission Electron Microscope. This phenomenon has been generically labeled as ‘‘electron beam-induced fragmentation’’ or EBIF and its physical origin remains contested. On the one hand, EBIF has been primarily characterized as a consequence of beam-induced heating. On the other, EBIF has been attributed to beam-induced charging eventually leading to Coulomb explosion. To test the feasibility of the charging framework for EBIF, we instigated the fragmentation of Au particles under two different experimental conditions. First, with the magnetic objective lens of the microscope operating at full capacity, i.e. background magnetic field 𝐵 = 2 T, and with the magnetic objective lens switched off (Lorenz mode), i.e. 𝐵 = 0 T. We observe that the presence or absence of the magnetic field noticeably affects the critical current density at which EBIF occurs. This strongly suggests that magnetic field effects play a crucial role in instigating EBIF on the microparticles. The dependence of the value of the critical current density on the absence or presence of an ambient magnetic field cannot be accounted for by the beam-induced heating model. Consequently, this work presents robust experimental evidence suggesting that Coulomb explosion driven by electrostatic charging is the root cause of EBIF. KW - Electron beam-induced fragmentation KW - Coulomb explosion KW - X-ray diffraction KW - Lorenz transmission electron microscopy KW - Electron beam-induced charging PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-600170 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113978 VL - 262 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-60017 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -