Quasicrystals in a Monodisperse System

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the formation of a two-dimensional quasicrystal in a monodisperse system through molecular dynamics simulations, revealing conditions under which quasicrystals are stable and can form from amorphous phases.

Contribution

It shows that a monodisperse system with square-well interactions can produce stable quasicrystals, expanding understanding of quasicrystal formation in simple systems.

Findings

Multiple stable crystalline phases exist for certain parameters.

Quenching yields an amorphous phase, which can transform into a quasicrystal upon heating.

The quasicrystal can be the thermodynamically stable phase within a specific temperature range.

Abstract

We investigate the formation of a two-dimensional quasicrystal in a monodisperse system, using molecular dynamics simulations of hard sphere particles interacting via a two-dimensional square-well potential. We find that more than one stable crystalline phase can form for certain values of the square-well parameters. Quenching the liquid phase at a very low temperature, we obtain an amorphous phase. By heating this amorphous phase, we obtain a quasicrystalline structure with five-fold symmetry. From estimations of the Helmholtz potentials of the stable crystalline phases and of the quasicrystal, we conclude that the observed quasicrystal phase can be the stable phase in a specific range of temperatures.