Aperiodic packings of clusters obtained by projection

Abstract

Atomic-resolution electron microscope images show that a quasicrystal is a quasiperiodic packing of clusters. The outer atomic shells of multi-shell clusters occurring in quasicrystals are highly symmetric and rather robust, but some structural disorder may be present around the core. The models describing quasicrystal structure are quasiperiodic lattices containing two or more unit cells decorated by atomic clusters. We show that a modified version of the strip projection method may become an alternative way to obtain useful models.