Identifying and Indexing Icosahedral Quasicrystals from Powder Diffraction Patterns

Peter J. Lu; Kenneth Deffeyes; Paul J. Steinhardt; Nan Yao

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.275507

Identifying and Indexing Icosahedral Quasicrystals from Powder Diffraction Patterns

Peter J. Lu, Kenneth Deffeyes, Paul J. Steinhardt, and Nan Yao

Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 275507 – Published 13 December 2001

Abstract

We present a scheme to identify quasicrystals based on powder diffraction data and to provide a standardized indexing. We apply our scheme to a large catalog of powder diffraction patterns, including natural minerals, to look for new quasicrystals. Based on our tests, we have found promising candidates worthy of further exploration.

Received 29 August 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.275507

Authors & Affiliations

Peter J. Lu^1,*, Kenneth Deffeyes², Paul J. Steinhardt¹, and Nan Yao³

¹Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544
²Department of Geology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544
³Princeton Materials Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544

^*Current address: Department of Physics, Jefferson Laboratory, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.Electronic address: plu@fas.harvard.edu