Stereoscopic representation of complex overlapping elemental maps in electron spectroscopic images

SUMMARY A stereoscopic method is described enabling the direct visualization of the spatial relationships of elemental maps generated by electron spectroscopic imaging. The cartilage growth plate in early stages of mineralization was used to illustrate elemental maps of calcium, phosphorus, and sulphur. Stereopsis is achieved by creating a stereo‐pair which in one image of the pair the elemental maps are superpositioned as they occur naturally while in the second image the maps are laterally shifted. In a stereo perspective the maps appear superpositioned in distinct planes.