Phason space analysis and structure modeling of 100 A-scale dodecagonal quasicrystal in Mn-based alloy

TL;DR

This study uses advanced electron microscopy to analyze a 100 Å-scale dodecagonal quasicrystal in a Mn-based alloy, revealing its tiling pattern, phason space acceptance region, and atomic structure model consistent with experimental data.

Contribution

First observation of the acceptance region in an actual dodecagonal quasicrystal and detailed atomic structure modeling based on microscopy and diffraction data.

Findings

Non-periodic tiling of triangles and squares with common edge length 4.560 Å

Network of dodecagons approximately 17 Å in diameter

Densely-filled circular acceptance region in phason space

Abstract

The dodecagonal quasicrystal classified into the five-dimensional space group P126/mmc, recently discovered in a Mn-Cr-Ni-Si alloy, has been analyzed using atomic-resolution spherical aberration-corrected electron microscopy, i.e. high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) and conventional transmission electron microscopy. By observing along the 12-fold axis, non-periodic tiling consisting of an equilateral triangle and a square has been revealed, of which common edge length is a = 4.560 A. These tiles tend to form a network of dodecagons of which size is (2+Sqrt(3))a ~ 17 A in diameter. The tiling was interpreted as an aggregate of 100 A-scale oriented domains of high- and low-quality quasicrystals with small crystallites appearing at their boundaries. The quasicrystal domains exhibited a densely-filled circular acceptance region in the phason space. This is the first observation of the acceptance region in an actual dodecagonal quasicrystal. Atomic structure model consistent with the electron microscopy images is a standard Frank-Kasper decoration of the triangle and square tiles, that can be inferred from the crystal structures of Zr4Al3 and Cr3Si. Four kinds of layers located at z = 0, +-1/4 and 1/2 are stacked periodically along the 12-fold axis, and the atoms at z = 0 and 1/2 form hexagonal anti-prisms consistently with the 126-screw axis. The validity of this structure model was examined by means of powder X-ray diffraction.