HR-EBSD (High Resolution - Electron Back Scatter Diffraction) by Angus J Wilkinson and Ben Britton

This collection contains papers describing the development and application of the high (angular) resolution electron back scatter diffraction (HR-EBSD) technique. 

HR-EBSD is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) based technique allowing measurement and mapping of lattice strain and rotation variations in crystalline media at very high spatial resolution.  Electrons backscattered from a highly tilted (60°-80°) sample are imaged on a phosphor screen placed close enough to the sample to subtend a large capture angle (70°-100°).  The angular variation of these electrons contains diffraction information in the form of Kikuchi bands of raised intensities.  The method centres on measurement of small distortions in the patterns which are geometrically related back to variations in lattice strain and lattice rotation within the sample.  Once lattice strains are determined the stress tensor can be calculated from knowledge of the elastic constants.  Furthermore, estimates of the dislocation density can be made using theory established by Nye and Kroner linking lattice curvature to the density of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs). 

The wide availability and ease of use of the SEM and EBSD detectors coupled with the high spatial resolution and rather complete description of the deformation state of the lattice has made the technique relatively popular.  It has found wide ranging applications in analysis of structural and functional materials and natural and synthetic minerals.

As curators of this collection, we intend this to be an inclusive list of contributions in the field of high (angular) resolution electron backscatter diffraction and omissions of papers are most likely that we have yet to add them or they have not been brought to our attention.  We encourage you to get in touch if you feel there is a paper we could usefully add to the collection.  When time and energy allows, we will also provide brief commentaries on papers that are of interest in the story of this field. We hope that you enjoy them and find them useful.

Angus J WIlkinson and T Ben Britton
                                          April 2019