Aperiodic Crystals: From Modulated Phases to Quasicrystals(20 International Union of Crystallography Monographs on Crystallography)

Until the 1970s all materials studied consisted of periodic arrays of unit cells, or were amorphous. In the last decades a new class of solid state matter, called aperiodic crystals, has been found. It is a long range ordered structure, but without lattice periodicity. It is found in a wide range of materials: organic and anorganic compounds, minerals (including a substantial portion of the earths crust), and metallic alloys, under various pressures and temperatures. Because of the lack of periodicity the usual techniques for the study of structure and physical properties no longer work, and new techniques have to be developed. This book deals with the characterisation of the structure, the structure determination and the study of the physical properties, especially dynamical and electronic properties of aperiodic crystals. The treatment is based on a description in a space with more dimensions than three, the so-called superspace. This allows us to generalise the standard crystallography and to look differently at the dynamics. The three main classes of aperiodic crystals, modulated phases, incommensurate composites and quasicrystals are treated from a unified point of view, which stresses similarities of the various systems. The book assumes as a prerequisite a knowledge of the fundamental techniques of crystallography and the theory of condensed matter, and covers the literature at the forefront of the field.

Table of Contents:
1: Introduction 2: Description and symmetry of aperiodic crystals 3: Mathematical models 4: Structure 5: Origin and stability 6: Physical properties 7: Other topics Appendix A. Higher-dimensional space groups Appendix B. Magnetic symmetry of quasi-periodic systems

About the Author :
Ted Jenssen Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Nijmegen 1968-1994 Associate Professor of Theoretical Physics University of Nijmegen 1994-1996 Extraordinary professor of Theoretical Solid State Physics University of Utrecht 1994-2001 Full Professor of Theoretical Physics University of Nijmegen 2001-present Emeritus Professorof Theoretical Physics University of Nijmegen 1998 Aminov Prize for Crystallography of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Gervais Chapuis Professor of Physics at the Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne Gervais Chapuis graduated at the Swiss Federal School of Technology in Zurich. In 1972, he obtained his PhD in the same institution under the supervision of Prof. A. Niggli in the field of crystallography. As a postdoctoral fellow, he spent two years in the group of Prof. D. Templeton at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California working the field of resonant scattering. Back in Switzerland, he pursues his research in the Institute of crystallography at the University of Lausanne. In 1991, he got tenure as a full professor in the physics department. Since 2003, he is professor of crystallography and physics at the Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale Lausanne. The research fields of Gervais Chapuis cover the domains of theoretical and experimental studies on aperiodic crystalline material by diffraction and molecular dynamics. He is the author of more than 200 publications in international scientific journals. Marc de Boissieu CNRS researcher at the Laboratoire de Thermodynamique et Physico Chimie Mtallurgique, Grenoble M. de Boissieu obtained is PhD in 1989, under the supervisionof Pr. C. Janot and Dr J.M. Dubois in the field of quasicrystals. Since 1989 he has been a CNRS researcher at the Laboratoire de Thermodynamique et Physico Chimie Mtallurgique (INPG, UMR CNRS 5614). He works in the field of quasicrystals with a particular interest into their structure, defects, phonons and phasons dynamics using elastic and inelastic X-ray or neutron scattering.

Review :
`... very timely ... including the big picture and how to explain it. ' Marjorie Senechal, Smith College Northampton, Massachusetts `... a valuable aid for newcomers to the field of aperiodic crystals as well as in teaching solid state physics and chemistry and crystallography.' Walter Steurer, ETH Zurich