Identifying and indexing icosahedral quasicrystals from powder diffraction patterns

Phys Rev Lett. 2001 Dec 31;87(27 Pt 1):275507. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.275507. Epub 2001 Dec 13.

Abstract

We present a scheme to identify quasicrystals based on powder diffraction data and to provide a standardized indexing. We apply our scheme to a large catalog of powder diffraction patterns, including natural minerals, to look for new quasicrystals. Based on our tests, we have found promising candidates worthy of further exploration.