@article{22613,
  abstract     = {A phase plate has long been sought in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to maximize the image contrast of weakly-scattering objects like biomolecules. The laser phase plate (LPP) has recently demonstrated that an amplified, focused laser standing wave reliably phase shifts the electron beam, achieving phase-contrast TEM. Building on the single-beam LPP, here we introduce the crossed laser phase plate (XLPP): two laser standing waves which intersect in the diffraction plane. We present a theoretical model for the XLPP inside the microscope and show that, relative to the original LPP, it increases information transfer at low spatial frequencies while suppressing ghost images formed by Kapitza-Dirac diffraction. We also present a simple acquisition scheme, enabled by the XLPP, which further suppresses ghosts. Finally, we discuss practical considerations of XLPP design and show experimental results from a prototype. The results of this study chart the course for future developments of LPP hardware.},
  author       = {Petrov, Petar N and Zhang, Jessie T. and Axelrod, Jeremy J. and Olshin, Pavel K. and Müller, Holger},
  issn         = {2041-1723},
  journal      = {Nature Communications},
  publisher    = {Springer Nature},
  title        = {{Crossed laser phase plates for transmission electron microscopy}},
  doi          = {10.1038/s41467-026-74060-6},
  volume       = {17},
  year         = {2026},
}

@article{22365,
  abstract     = {Phase plates can, in principle, overcome the poor image contrast in cryo–electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and the resulting limits on the structural reconstruction of small proteins. However, previous designs have been unstable and compromised the high-resolution signal and have thus been unable to surpass results achieved by standard cryo-EM. Here, we show that the laser phase plate (LPP), installed in a modern, custom Titan Krios microscope, enhances the resolution in single-particle reconstruction of small proteins by improving specimen-motion correction and recovery of information from the early frames, as well as particle visualization, three-dimensional classification, and alignment. These advances use standard defocus ranges and reconstruction procedures but open the door to LPP-tailored protocols, offering further improvements by leveraging the LPP demonstrated here.},
  author       = {Petrov, Petar N and Zhang, Jessie T. and Remis, Jonathan and Axelrod, Jeremy J. and Cheng, Hang and Cooper, Eric S. and Hicklin, Ian K. and Sandhaus, Shahar and Schnurr, Cooper and Glaeser, Robert M. and Müller, Holger},
  issn         = {1095-9203},
  journal      = {Science},
  number       = {6807},
  pages        = {195--196},
  publisher    = {AAAS},
  title        = {{Laser phase plate improves structure determination of small proteins by cryo-EM}},
  doi          = {10.1126/science.aeh0665},
  volume       = {393},
  year         = {2026},
}