Solving crystal structures from electron diffraction patterns rather than
X-ray diffraction data is hampered by multiple scattering of the fast electrons
within even very thin samples and the difficulty of obtaining diffraction data
at a resolution high enough for applying direct phasing methods. This letter
presents a method by which the effect of multiple scattering is being used for
solving the phase problem, allowing the retrieval of electron structure factors
from diffraction patterns recorded with varying angle of incidence without any
assumption about the scattering potential itself. In particular, the resolution
in the diffraction data does not need to be sufficient to resolve atoms, making
this method particularly interesting for electron crystallography of
2-dimensional protein crystals and other beam-sensitive complex structures.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure