Absence of fine structure in the photoemission spectrum of the icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn quasicrystal

The results of the low-temperature ultrahigh-energy-resolution photoemission studies of a single-grain icosahedral alloy Al70Pd21.5Mn8.5 have been presented. The existence of the theoretically predicted pseudogap in the density of states at the Fermi energy has been confirmed. No evidence of the theoretically predicted spikiness of the density of states could be observed. It has been suggested that the failure to detect the predicted spikiness of the density of states in icosahedral quasicrystals is consistent with the results of Zijlstra and Janssen [Europhys. Lett. 52, 578 (2000)] who showed that the spikiness occurs only in lowerorder periodic approximants to icosahedral quasicrystals, but does not survive in the quasiperiodic limit. Disciplines Condensed Matter Physics | Metallurgy Comments This article is from Physical Review B 64 (2001): 214202, doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.64.214202. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ameslab_pubs/110 Absence of fine structure in the photoemission spectrum of the icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn quasicrystal Z. M. Stadnik* Department of Physics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5 D. Purdie and Y. Baer Institut de Physique, Université de Neuchâtel, 1 Rue A.-L. Breguet, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland T. A. Lograsso Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011 ~Received 25 April 2001; revised manuscript received 5 July 2001; published 1 November 2001! The results of the low-temperature ultrahigh-energy-resolution photoemission studies of a single-grain icosahedral alloy Al70Pd21.5Mn8.5 have been presented. The existence of the theoretically predicted pseudogap in the density of states at the Fermi energy has been confirmed. No evidence of the theoretically predicted spikiness of the density of states could be observed. It has been suggested that the failure to detect the predicted spikiness of the density of states in icosahedral quasicrystals is consistent with the results of Zijlstra and Janssen @Europhys. Lett. 52, 578 ~2000!# who showed that the spikiness occurs only in lower-order periodic approximants to icosahedral quasicrystals, but does not survive in the quasiperiodic limit. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.64.214202 PACS number~s!: 71.23.Ft