High spatial resolution imaging and spectroscopy in nanostructures

The challenge during the characterization of nanostructures is in extractin g consistent local and spatially varying information from the structure and correlating it to the new physics that appears at the nanoscale. Recent ye ars have seen exciting advances in imaging and spectroscopy techniques that can achieve this goal. The techniques offer the possibility to directly in vestigate local properties of materials with sub-nanometre spatial resoluti on. In this paper we review, from the perspective of our own contributions to the field of carbon nanostructures, recent advances in the application o f nanoanalysis. Complementary techniques of spatially resolved electron, an d scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, can be used to characteri ze and correlate the structure, topology, chemistry and electronic properti es of nanostructures. Often the interpretation of the data needs to come fr om comparison with adequate theoretical models. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.