Pattern Matching Workflows for EBSD Data Analysis: Quartz Chirality Mapping

Abstract

Pattern matching approaches to electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) provide qualitatively new possibilities for the microstructural analysis of chiral non-centrosymmetric phases due to the influence of dynamical electron diffraction effects on the formation of EBSD Kikuchi patterns. In the present study, we analyze the microstructure of polycrystalline alpha-quartz in an agate mineral sample. We identify characteristic intra-grain inversion domains of different handedness which are well-known from classical polarized light microscopy. As a result, the handedness-resolved microstructure of quartz can be imaged with the spatial and orientation resolution provided by EBSD in the SEM.