FAST-ADT: the first tracking routines

Citation

Sergi Plana-Ruiz, Yaşar Krysiak, Joaquim Portillo, Edith Alig, Sònia Estradé, Francesca Peiró, Ute Kolb* (2020):
Fast-ADT: A fast and automated electron diffraction tomography setup for structure determination and refinement.
Ultramicroscopy 211, 112951 (2020)

In one sentence

The paper that brought ADT into its modern, accelerated form — Fast-ADT — with substantially improved tracking, faster acquisition, and a level of automation that made full 3D electron diffraction data collection accessible to non-specialists.

What was done

By the late 2010s, Automated Diffraction Tomography had matured into a productive crystallographic technique, but its practical use was still limited by the time required for a full data set, by tracking failures on demanding samples, and by the considerable expertise needed to operate the workflow reliably. Fast-ADT addresses all three points.

The paper introduces an accelerated acquisition scheme, a new tracking algorithm with improved tolerance to weak contrast and crystal drift, and a streamlined user interface that hides much of the underlying complexity. A typical Fast-ADT data set can be collected in a fraction of the time previously required, with markedly reduced operator intervention. The setup also includes integrated tools for data conversion and downstream processing, narrowing the gap between acquisition and structure solution.

Fast-ADT acquisition scheme — accelerated tilting, improved tracking, and streamlined data handling

Why it matters

Fast-ADT is the bridge between the original ADT papers from 2007–2009 and the current generation of software, including PyFast-ADT. It is the version of ADT that most users encountered when 3D electron diffraction broke into the mainstream of solid-state chemistry, mineralogy, and pharmaceutical crystallography in the early 2020s. The architectural choices made in Fast-ADT — modular tracking, hardware-agnostic camera and microscope adaptors, scriptable acquisition — are still the structural template followed by PyFast-ADT today.

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