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Quasicrystalline valence bands in decagonal AlNiCo

Nature volume 406, pages 602–605 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Quasicrystals are metallic alloys that possess perfect long-range structural order, in spite of the fact that their rotational symmetries are incompatible with long-range periodicity. The exotic structural properties of this class of materials1 are accompanied by physical properties that are unexpected for metallic alloys. Considerable progress in resolving the geometric structures of quasicrystals has been made using X-ray and neutron diffraction, and concepts such as the quasi-unit-cell model2 have provided theoretical insights. But the basic properties of the valence electronic states—whether they are extended as in periodic crystals or localized as in amorphous materials—are still largely unresolved3. Here we investigate the electronic bandstructure of quasicrystals through angle-resolved photoemission experiments on decagonal Al71.8Ni14.8Co13.4. We find that the s-p and d states exhibit band-like behaviour with the symmetry of the quasiperiodic lattice, and that the Fermi level is crossed by dispersing d-bands. The observation of free-electron-like bands, distributed in momentum space according to the surface diffraction pattern, suggests that the electronic states are not dominated by localization.

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Figure 1: Angle-resolved photoemission intensity maps for AlNiCo valence-band electrons for various binding energies relative to the Fermi level E F.
Figure 3: In-plane and out-of-plane order in k-space.
Figure 2: Angle-resolved photoemission spectra for AlNiCo valence electrons for photon energy 95 eV.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences Division, of the US Department of Energy at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. P.G. and W.T. acknowledge support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MS2-400, Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, 94720, California , USA

    Eli Rotenberg

  2. Institut für Experimentalphysik der Freien Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, Berlin, D-14195, Germany

    W. Theis

  3. Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft , Faradayweg 4-6, Berlin, D-14195, Germany

    K. Horn

  4. Institut für Kristallographie und Angewandte Mineralogie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Theresienstrasse 41, München, D-80333, Germany

    P. Gille

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Correspondence to Eli Rotenberg.

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Rotenberg, E., Theis, W., Horn, K. et al. Quasicrystalline valence bands in decagonal AlNiCo. Nature 406, 602–605 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35020519

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