Atomic structure and phason modes of the Sc–Zn icosahedral quasicrystal

 

Tsunetomo Yamada, Hiroyuki Takakura, Holger Euchner, Cesar Pay Gómez, Alexei Bosak, Pierre Fertey and Marc de Boissieu

 

 

IUCrJ (2016) 3, 247-258 (link)

 

 

 

The detailed atomic structure of the binary icosahedral i-ScZn_7.33 quasicrystal has been investigated by means of high-resolution synchrotron single-crystal X-ray diffraction and absolute scale measurements of diffuse scattering. The structure is isomorphous to the i-CdYb one, but with a significant amount of Zn/Sc chemical disorder located mainly on a specific site. The observed diffuse scattering is fully accounted for by phason fluctuations. This structure determination, with a detailed understanding of the chemical order and siorder, open the route for a better analysis of quasicrystal sabilizing mmechanisms.