Icosahedral crystals: neutron diffraction tells you where the atoms are

Abstract
Neutron diffraction data were obtained from a single-phase icosahedral powder of the system Al74Si5Mn21 and its modification by isomorphous substitution on the Mn sites. Amplitudes and phase differences of the partial structure factors (FAl, FMn) were determined. From their Qperpendicular to -dependences within a strip-projection approach, phases were reconstructed. Atomic densities were then calculated in the physical space and in the six-dimensional periodic lattice, resulting in the first experimentally deduced decoration of the quasi-periodic network. The Mackay icosahedron no longer appears as the necessary basic structural unit. In six dimensions the structure has a simple CsCl-like space-group symmetry.

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