Phason
Phason is a quasiparticle existing in quasicrystals due to their specific, quasiperiodic lattice structure. Similar to phonon, phason is associated with atomic motion. However, whereas phonons are related to translation of atoms, phasons are associated with atomic rearrangements. As a result of these rearrangements, waves, describing the position of atoms in crystal, change phase, thus the term "phason".
The hydrodynamic theory of the quasicrystals predicts that the conventional (phonon) strain relaxes rapidly. On the contrary, relaxation of the phason strain is diffusive and is much slower.[1] Therefore, metastable quasicrystals grown by rapid quenching from the melt exhibit built-in phason strain[2] associated with shifts and broadenings of X-ray and electron diffraction peaks.[3]
References
- ↑ "Hydrodynamics of icosahedral quasicrystals" Phys. Rev. B 32, 7444–7452 (1985)
- ↑ "Icosahedral clusters, icosaheral order and stability of quasicrystals—a view of metallurgy" Sci. Technol. Adv. Mater. 9 No 1 (2008) 013008: free-download review
- ↑ "Distortion and Peak Broadening in Diffraction Patterns" Phys. Rev. Lett. 57, 1440–1443 (1986)
Books
- P.J. Steinhardt and S. Ostlund The Physics of Quasicrystals (Singapore: World Scientific, 1987)
- M.V. Jaric, ed, Introduction to Quasicrystals (Aperiodicity and Order, Vol 1) ISBN 0-12-040601-2, Academic Press, 1988.
- M.V. Jaric, ed, Introduction to the Mathematics of Quasicrystals (Aperiodicity and Order, Vol 2) ISBN 0-12-040602-0, Academic Press, 1989.
- D. P. DiVincenzo and P. J. Steinhardt, eds. Quasicrystals: The State of the Art. Directions in Condensed Matter Physics, Vol 11. ISBN 981-02-0522-8, 1991.
- M. Senechal, Quasicrystals and Geometry, Cambridge University Press, 1995.
- J. Patera, Quasicrystals and Discrete Geometry , 1998.
- E. Belin-Ferre et al., eds. Quasicrystals, 2000.
- Hans-Rainer Trebin ed., Quasicrystals: Structure and Physical Properties 2003.