Structure and lattice dynamics of rational approximants to icosahedral Al-Cu-Li

Structure determinations for random-tiling quasicrystals

How, in principle, could one solve the atomic structure of a quasicrystal, modeled as a random tiling decorated by atoms, and what techniques are available to do it? One path is to solve the phase problem first, obtaining the density in a higher dimensional space which yields the averaged scattering density in 3-dimensional space by the usual construction of an incommensurate cut. A novel direct method for this is summarized and applied to an i(AlPdMn) data set. This averaged density falls short of a true structure determination (which would reveal the typical unaveraged atomic patterns.) We discuss the problematic validity of inferring an ideal structure by simply factoring out a "perp-space" Debye-Waller factor, and we test this using simulations of rhombohedral tilings. A second, "unified" path is to relate the measured and modeled intensities directliy, by adjusting parameters in a simulation to optimize the fit. This approach is well suited for unifying structural information from diffraction and from minimizing total energies derived ultimately from ab-initio calculations. Finally, we discuss the special pitfalls of fitting random-tiling decagonal phases.