Quasicrystals as Templates for Aperiodic Films

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• Prof Renee Diehl, Physics Department and Materials Research Institute, Penn State University
• Friday 24 February 2006, 09:15-10:15
• U203, Chemistry, Department of.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr Ruben M Garnica.

Quasicrystals are new materials that are well ordered but not periodic. Their mechanical and electrical properties are very different from those of periodic crystals. Recent progress in the characterization and preparation of quasicrystal surfaces raises new possibilities for their use as substrates and templates in the growth of films having novel structural, electronic, dynamic and mechanical properties. The apparently unusual frictional properties of quasicrystals also evoke interesting fundamental questions about how physical properties are altered by quasiperiodicity.

Our focus for the past several years has been to study the growth of films on quasicrystal surfaces, with a view toward producing 1-component quasicrystal structures, or quasiperiodically arranged nanostructures. Metal films on quasicrystal surfaces have been found to grow in a variety of modes, including the formation of quasiperiodic Cu multilayer structures, as starfish-like clusters of Al in quasiperiodic arrays, and in hexagonal dendrite structures of Ag on icosahedral AlPdMn. To obtain a more fundamental understanding of the growth process, we have recently studied and modeled the growth of Xe on decagonal AlNiCo. This growth process includes the formation of a quasicrystalline first layer followed by a transition to an fcc(111) structure.

This talk will provide an introduction to many of the interesting features of quasicrystals and well as reviewing the recent progress in the area of film growth on their surfaces.

This talk is part of the DAK Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• DAK Group Meetings
• DAK Seminars
• U203, Chemistry, Department of

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