Make Informed On-The-Fly Decisions at the TEM with “Session Review” From AXON Synchronicity

Most in-situ electron microscopy experiments depend heavily on the operator to make accurate decisions during acquisition behind the microscope. Collecting data during these experiments is usually done using preview or collection modes, and images need to be saved in separately. Only after saving these to a folder on the computer can the images be viewed. This is then usually done by scrolling through immense folders with images to observe any of the dynamic interactions. However, during live imaging, it is important that a microscopist is able to judge and understand which action to undertake.

• Three major issues that can be seen using the current data collection method:

- The experiment cannot be reviewed during live data collection

- The microscopist is too late to make decisions on their dynamic experiment

- Data collection and data saving are separated, meaning that data loss is evident

What can AXON Synchronicity and Studio offer?

Using AXON Synchronicity, all images are coming into the AXON PC and are being saved with their respective metadata immediately. During any type of experiment, by clicking the ‘review session’ option in AXON Synchronicity, these images can be reviewed and the experimental parameters adjusted. AXON Studio will open up the active and live dataset, while the user is still doing measurements, to observe any images already taken in that dataset. While the review is happening, the images are still being recorded using AXON Synchronicity.

In AXON Studio, the active metadata can then be plotted under the images, to observe any dynamical changes or even focus changes to the area of interest. Moreover, when clicking the refresh button, the new images are being pulled into AXON Studio from the live session. This way anybody can quickly review and alter the ongoing experiment.

The scrubbing and playback options in AXON Studio make it possible to immediately observe any dynamic changes in the sample behavior. Plotting metadata such as the Match Correlation can quantifiably show the changes over time. Moreover, data can be deleted so that the data stack does not become too large, or smaller collections can be filtered out of the larger dataset to pack and share to other collaborators. This can all be done while live imaging, eliminating time consuming data analysis afterwards and adding the ability to make decisions on the spot.