An electrostatic lens is a lens that transports electrons emitted from a sample to an electron analyser . The recent development of electron spectroscopy makes it possible to reveal the electronic structures of molecules. Although this is mainly accomplished by electron analysers, electrostatic lenses also play a significant role in the development of electron spectroscopy. Since electron spectroscopy detects several physical phenomena from the electrons emitted from samples, it is necessary to transport the electrons to the electron analyser. Electrostatic lenses satisfy the general properties of lenses. Systems of electrostatic lenses can be designed in the same way as optical lenses, so electrostatic lenses easily magnify or converge the electron trajectories.

There are several types of electrostatic lenses: cylinder lenses , aperture lenses , and quadrupole lenses . As an example, the principle of the cylinder lenses is explained. A cylinder lens consists of several cylinders whose sides are thin walls. Each cylinder lines up parallel to the optical axis into which electrons enter. There are small gaps put between the cylinders. When each cylinder has a different voltage, the gap between the cylinders works as a lens. The magnification is able to be changed by choosing different voltage combinations. Although the magnification of two cylinder lenses can be changed, the focal point is also changed by this operation. Three cylinder lenses achieve the change of the magnification while holding the object and image positions because there are two gaps that work as lenses. Although the voltages have to change depending on the electron kinetic energy, the voltage ratio is kept constant when the optical parameters are not changed.