Experimental observation of carousel-like phason flips in the decagonal quasicrystal Al60Cr20Fe10Si10

Quasicrystals have special crystal structures with long-range order, but without translational symmetry. Unexpectedly, carousel-like successive flippings of groups of atoms inside the ∼ 2   nm decagonal structural subunits of the decagonal quasicrystal Al60Cr20Fe10Si10 were directly observed using in situ high-temperature high-resolution transmission electron microscopy imaging. The observed directionally successive phason flips occur mainly clockwise and occasionally anticlockwise. The origin of these directional phason flips is analyzed and discussed.

Source: Acta Crystallographica Section A - August 13, 2021 Category: Chemistry Authors: He, Z. Maurice, J.-L. Ma, H. Wang, Y. Li, H. Zhang, T. Ma, X. Steurer, W. Tags: decagonal quasicrystals TEM transmission electron microscopy atomic clusters clockwise phason flips research papers Source Type: research