Since Head first demonstrated the advantages of computer displayed theoretical intensities from defective crystals, computer display techniques have become important in image analysis. However the computational methods employed resort largely to numerical integration of the dynamical equations of electron diffraction. As a consequence, the interpretation of the results in terms of the defect displacement field and diffracting variables is difficult to follow in detail. In contrast to this type of computational approach which is based on a plane-wave expansion of the excited waves within the crystal (i.e. Darwin representation ), Wilkens assumed scattering of modified Bloch waves by an imperfect crystal. For localized defects, the wave amplitudes can be described analytically and this formulation has been used successfully to predict the black-white symmetry of images arising from small dislocation loops.
A program for construction of a Regge theory with crossing symmetry and unitarity