The BiP-PRISM algorithm for fast and scalable core-loss STEM-EELS simulations

Abstract

Quantitative interpretation of atomic-resolution STEM-EELS requires dynamical simulation of the electron probe before and after core-loss transitions, which is computationally expensive. While the PRISM algorithm accelerates this by reusing scattering matrices, we introduce beam partitioning for both the probe-forming ($\mathcal{S}_1$) and detector-propagating ($\mathcal{S}_2$) PRISM matrices to further reduce computational and memory costs. Each matrix is calculated on a sparse set of parent beams and reconstructed via natural-neighbor interpolation locally at the ionized atom. A locality result demonstrates that the total error is governed entirely by this on-atom reconstruction error. The resulting BiP-PRISM algorithm removes per-scan exit wave propagation and significantly reduces memory requirements, enabling full-resolution elemental mapping, 4D cubes, and momentum-resolved qEELS on consumer-grade GPUs. We characterize the approximation's validity regime and demonstrate the simulation of a multimodal five-edge oxide-interface map and an FePt nanoparticle Fe-L map at 5x memory reduction, showing that the algorithm achieves high accuracy with significantly lower computational demands.