High Phase-Purity and Composition-Tunable Ferromagnetic Icosahedral Quasicrystal

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 130; no. 17; p. 176701
• Main Authors: Takeuchi, Ryo, Labib, Farid, Tsugawa, Takafumi, Akai, Yuto, Ishikawa, Asuka, Suzuki, Shintaro, Fujii, Takenori, Tamura, Ryuji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 28-04-2023
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.130.176701

We discovered a ferromagnetic Au-Ga-Dy icosahedral quasicrystal (i QC), not only with high phase purity but also with tunable composition. The isothermal magnetization of the polycrystalline ferromagnetic i QC was closely investigated and the mean-field-like nature of the ferromagnetic transition is elucidated. Moreover, the maximum Weiss temperature (θ_{p}) of the i QCs was found at the electrons-per-atom (e/a) ratio of 1.70 being well consistent with those of ACs, validating tunability of the magnetic properties of i QCs on the basis of θ_{p}-e/a scheme for the first time. Thus, the present work provided direct evidence that the magnetism of the i QCs depends on the e/a ratio or the Fermi energy, paving the way for future studies on various exotic magnetic textures formed on a quasiperiodic lattice through the e/a ratio.