engleski

Decagonal Quasicrystals and Approximants: Two-Dimensional or Three-Dimensional Solids?

Crystallographic structures of decagonal quasicrystals (d-QCs) are traditionally described as a periodic stacking of atomic planes with quasiperiodic in-plane atomic order, so that d-QCs are considered to be two-dimensional (2D) quasicrystals, whereas they are periodic crystals in the third dimension. Similar stacked-layer structures are observed also in the periodic decagonal approximant phases. In this review paper, we consider the dimensionality of the chemical bonding network in the d-QCs and their approximants on the basis of electrical resistivity. By comparing the anisotropic resistivity along the stacking- and the in-plane directions of a series of decagonal approximants with different number of atomic layers within one periodicity unit (the two-layer Y-Al-Co-Ni, the four-layer o-Al13Co4, Al13Fe4 and Al13(Fe, Ni)4 and the six-layer Al4(Cr, Fe) and T-Al3(Mn, Fe)) and of a two-layer d-Al-Co-Ni decagonal quasicrystal, we show the universality that the stacking direction perpendicular to the atomic planes is always the most conducting one. Since the in-plane electrical resistivities are of the same order of magnitude as the resistivity along the stacking direction, this confirms the 3D character of the investigated solids. The stacked-layer description in terms of 2D atomic planes should therefore be regarded as a convenient geometrical approach to describe the complex structures of the d-QCs and their approximants, whereas their physical properties are those of true 3D solids.

decagonal quasicrystals; quasicrystalline approximants; electrical transport

Ovaj članak posvećen je Dannyju, čiji otkriće otvara nove znanstvene granice u mnogim različitim disciplinama. Jedna od tih granica prprikazana je u ovom radu.