Fermi surface effects in icosahedral quasicrystals

Abstract

In icosahedral quasicrystals, due to an interaction of the Fermi sphere with the boundaries of the pseudo-Brillouin zone associated with the strongest Fourier components of the pseudopotential, the Fermi surface consists of many small electron and hole pockets. Such a scenario can be described by the fractional multicomponent model of the Fermi surface. A discussion is provided of the electronic and thermal properties that follow from this model, in particular at high temperatures.

Keywords:

• electronic structure
• icosahedral phase
• quasicrystal

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grants 080201461-f and 090200147-f) and the Russian Government Program “High School Development” (Grant RNP.2.1.1/5845) and the Göran Gustafsson foundation for nature sciences and medical research.