Atomic string holography

A new diffraction-channeling effect has been discovered, in which Kikuchi o r channeling line patterns formed by high energy electrons, neutrons, and p ositrons are shown to break up into a series of annular disks if the crysta l thickness traversed by the beam is small. The disks: may be interpreted a s Gabor in-line holograms of strings of atoms projected along the beam path . For electrons or positrons the patterns may be detected with little backg round by detecting characteristic x-ray emission from a thin film as a func tion of the diffraction conditions of a collimated, ionizing, high energy b eam. Uses of the effect for structure determination and atomic-resolution l ensless imaging are suggested.