Steps and terraces at quasicrystal surfaces. Application of the 6d-polyhedral model to the analysis of STM images of i-AlPdMn

TL;DR

This paper applies a 6D polyhedral model to analyze STM images of i-AlPdMn quasicrystal surfaces, successfully interpreting terrace structures and step heights.

Contribution

It introduces a 6D polyhedral model for icosahedral quasicrystals and demonstrates its effectiveness in analyzing surface STM images.

Findings

Terrace structures are consistent with the model.

Step-terrace height profiles match the model predictions.

Model aids in interpreting high-resolution STM images.

Abstract

6-d polyhedral models give a periodic description of aperiodic quasicrystals. There are powerful tools to describe their structural surface properties. Basis of the model for icosahedral quasicrystals are given. This description is further used to interpret high resolution STM images of the surface of i-AlPdMn which surface preparation was followed by He diffraction. It is found that both terrace structure and step-terrace height profiles in STM images can be consistently interpreted by the described model.