Optimized imaging using non-rigid registration

• Developed a new process for extracting more information from a series of STEM images.
• An objective non-rigid registration process copes with distortions.
• Images of zeolite Y show retrieval of all information available from the data set.
• Quantitative measures of registration quality were implemented.
• Applicable to any serially acquired data, e.g. STM, AFM, STXM, etc.

The extraordinary improvements of modern imaging devices offer access to data with unprecedented information content. However, widely used image processing methodologies fall far short of exploiting the full breadth of information offered by numerous types of scanning probe, optical, and electron microscopies. In many applications, it is necessary to keep measurement intensities below a desired threshold. We propose a methodology for extracting an increased level of information by processing a series of data sets suffering, in particular, from high degree of spatial uncertainty caused by complex multiscale motion during the acquisition process. An important role is played by a non-rigid pixel-wise registration method that can cope with low signal-to-noise ratios. This is accompanied by formulating objective quality measures which replace human intervention and visual inspection in the processing chain. Scanning transmission electron microscopy of siliceous zeolite material exhibits the above-mentioned obstructions and therefore serves as orientation and a test of our procedures.