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Quasicrystals: A New Class of Ordered Structures

Dov Levine and Paul Joseph Steinhardt
Phys. Rev. Lett. 53, 2477 – Published 24 December 1984
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Abstract

A quasicrystal is the natural extension of the notion of a crystal to structures with quasiperiodic, rather than periodic, translational order. We classify two- and three-dimensional quasicrystals by their symmetry under rotation and show that many disallowed crystal symmetries are allowed quasicrystal symmetries. We analytically compute the diffraction pattern of an ideal quasicrystal and show that the recently observed electron-diffraction pattern of an Al-Mn alloy is closely related to that of an icosahedral quasicrystal.

  • Received 2 November 1984

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.53.2477

©1984 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Dov Levine

  • Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

Paul Joseph Steinhardt

  • Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, and IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Laboratory, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598

References

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Issue

Vol. 53, Iss. 26 — 24 December 1984

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