Strong electron-electron interaction effects in highly resistive Al-Cu-Fe icosahedral phases

Abstract
We have analyzed the temperature and magnetic-field (up to 35 T in pulsed fields) dependences of the conductivity of pure Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystalline samples. The results of this analysis are consistent with predictions of weak-localization and electron-electron interaction theories. A maximum is observed in the high-temperature magnetoconductivity, which could be due to competing effects between these two contributions. The more resistive sample shows a peculiar low-temperature behavior, which could be attributed to band-structure effects.