Microscope Control Panel

This panel contains various controls to minimize the need to access the microscope's user interface.  Its primary use is to facilitate control of the microscope via remote access, but it is more generally useful in a variety of situations, and allows the elimination of some common scripts.  This panel is unique in that it can be completely eliminated from the set of tool panels if desired, using an entry in the Window menu.

Open/Close Valve(s)  or  Turn Beam On/Off

This button allows one to toggle the state of the beam: it opens or closes the column valves on a Thermo/FEI scope or the beam valve on a JEOL scope with a FEG, or it turns the filament on or off on other JEOL scopes.

Blank or Unblank

Use this button to blank or unblank the beam; the button is labeled and colored to reflect the current blanking state and the action when pressed.

Raise/Lower Screen

Use this button to raise or lower the screen.

-> nPr /  -> uPr (Thermo/FEI only)

Press this button to switch to the indicated nanoprobe of microprobe mode.  It is disabled in low magnification mode.

Alpha (JEOL only)

Use this spin button to change the alpha setting; the current alpha is shown next to the button.  It is disabled in low magnification mode.

Spot

Use this spin button to increase or decrease the spot size number.  If you click the button multiple times with a small enough time (< 0.35 sec) between clicks, the program will go several steps with just one spot size change.  If you press and hold the Ctrl key first, the change will not occur until you release Ctrl, or until ~2.5 seconds since the last click.  The new spot size will be displayed in the Microscope Status panel as soon as you click the button, prefixed by '->', so that you can know what spot size will be reached.

C2/C3/IA and step -/+

Use this spin button to increase or decrease the value of the intensity lens setting: the illuminated area on a Thermo/FEI Titan, C2 value on other Thermo/FEI scopes and Hitachi scopes, C3 value on JEOL scopes.  The size of the change is indicated by the value below the label, in units of percent C2 or C3 or microns of illuminated area.  This control requires no calibrations.  The same changes can be made with Ctrl and the Up and Down Arrow keys, with the same step size.

Intensity

Use these buttons to decrease or increase the step size for changes in the intensity lens value.  The same changes can be made with the Ctrl and the , (comma) or . (period) keys, and changes with those keys will appear in the size indicated here.

Beam Up/Down, Left/Right and step -/+

Use these two spin buttons to move the beam in the indicated direction. The size of the step is indicated by the text below the Beam label.

For beam movement in imaging mode, the step is expressed as a percentage of the camera field of view .  For example, a step of 10 will move the beam by one-tenth of the field of view of the current camera.  The same movements can be made with Shift and the Arrow keys, with the same step size.  If beam shift is not calibrated for the current magnification range, the movements will be along the beam shift deflector axes by an approximate amount.  In diffraction mode, these spin buttons will move the diffraction pattern on the camera.  There is no calibration for this movement.  The size of the movement is controlled by the property DiffractionShiftScaling, which may need to be set to give a useful amount of shift for the various step sizes.

For stage movement, the step is in microns, and the movement is in the direction that will shift the  If stage movement is selected, the step size will change to multiples of 1, 2 or 5.

Use the - and + buttons to decrease or increase the step size for beam movement by a factor of 1.414.  The same changes can be made with the < and > keys, and changes with those keys will appear in the size indicated here. 

Focus Up/Down and step -/+

Use this spin button to change defocus.  Use the - and + buttons to change the step size for focus changes, which is shown in microns below the Focus label; available steps range from 0.01 to 100.

Stage Up/Down, Left/Right and step -/+

Use these two spin buttons to move the stage so that the image on the current camera shifts in the given direction.  Use the - and + buttons to change the step size, which changes to multiples of 1, 2, or 5 and is shown in microns below the Stage label.

Mag (CamL in diffraction)

Use this spin button to increase or decrease the magnification or the camera length in diffraction mode. If you click the button multiple times with a small enough time (< 0.35 sec) between clicks, the program will go several steps with just one magnification change.  If you press and hold the Ctrl key first, the change will not occur until you release Ctrl, or until ~2.5 seconds since the last click.  The new magnification will be displayed in the Microscope Status panel as soon as you click the button, prefixed by '->', so that you can know what magnification will be reached.  The '->' will stay until the magnification change is achieved.  This preview feature does not work on Thermo/FEI scopes in diffraction mode unless there is a CameraLengthTable entry in properties; see List Mags for a script to get such a table.

On Thermo/FEI scopes in STEM mode, it is not possible for SerialEM to switch between LM and nonLM magnifications, so this button will not work at that boundary.  If necessary, you can go out of STEM, change magnification to enter or leave LM, and then return to STEM mode.

Hold down the Shift key when clicking the magnification spinner to have the program change intensity when you change magnification with the Mag spin button, so as to maintain a constant beam brightness.  This is done with the program's intensity calibrations, and works works regardless of whether an equivalent function is turned on in the microscope user interface.  Intensity must be within the calibrated range for the current spot size.  The text '& C2' (or whatever name applies) will appear when this change is possible.  The Intensity with Mag checkbox for this functionality was eliminated in SerialEM 4.2, but could be restored if other options get added to this panel.