MVLscope

TINY WORLD / AN ELECTRON-BEAM PUZZLE

Down the Column

Can you turn a beam into a clear picture?

  1. 01 Find the beam
  2. 02 Round the beam
  3. 03 Reveal the detail
  4. 04 Less can reveal more
How the beam travels

Follow the path

Side view · beam envelope above, image rays below

Your specimen image

LIVE VIEW
Light the whole field

A fixed-exposure teaching image. Waiting will not make it brighter.

Preparing the column…

ABOUT THIS SIMULATION

A beam is not yet a picture.

Illumination lights the specimen. Condenser stigmators correct its shape. The objective lens forms its image. The objective aperture selects electron angles and can change bright-field contrast.

These are invented specimens. The beam-shape mission uses a separate, simplified astigmatic Gaussian beam over an empty area. The upper beam envelope and lower image rays are separate diagrams. The image uses simplified scattering and blur, assuming near-parallel illumination. The controls, sizes and animation speed are uncalibrated; several real lenses are omitted.

Captures use fixed exposure. Counting noise, accumulated dose and damage are omitted. Progress lasts while this page stays open. This is a learning puzzle, not an operating procedure or skills assessment.

Scientific background and model details

INSIDE THE INSTRUMENT

Explore the column

Magnetic lenses, revealed

LIVE VIEW

Illustrative cutaway · dimensions are not calibrated. Beam shape and image formation use separate teaching models.

The diagram remains available while 3D loads.

Explore the parts

Choose a part, or select it in the cutaway.

What this view represents

Coils and pole pieces suggest magnetic lenses; the drawing is not a manufacturer's instrument. The illumination envelope, stigmator beam and specimen-image model are separate simplifications. They do not trace the same electrons through the whole instrument.

In “Round the beam”, each outline comes from the same Gaussian model as the image. The outlines show two standard deviations, not a hard beam edge. The before and after views are virtual observation planes, not extra detectors.

The objective aperture is shown at a fixed hardware station. Its opening illustrates angular selection. The points near it represent angles, not counted electrons. The specimen image retains the game's original scattering and blur model, including loss of detail at very small openings.