Mapping the full lattice strain tensor of a single dislocation by high angular resolution transmission Kikuchi diffraction (HR-TKD)

The full lattice strain tensor and lattice rotations induced by a dislocation in pure tungsten were mapped using high-resolution transmission Kikuchi diffraction (HR-TKD) in a SEM. The HR-TKD measurement agrees very well with a forward calculation using an elastically isotropic model of the dislocation and its Burgers vector. Our results demonstrate that the spatial and angular resolution of HR-TKD in SEM is sufficiently high to resolve the details of lattice distortions near individual dislocations. This capability opens a number of new interesting opportunities, for example determining the Burgers vector of an unknown dislocation in a fast and straightforward way.