What are quasicrystals according to Shechtman?
Quasicrystals are ordered, yet non-repeating, atomic structures. Unlike traditional crystals, which have repeating unit cells and symmetries like two, three, four, or six-fold rotation, quasicrystals can exhibit symmetries such as five-fold, seven-fold, or ten-fold. The arrangement of atoms is highly ordered, following mathematical rules, but it never repeats itself in space. The evidence is clear from the diffraction patterns we obtained; these are not disordered materials, but possess a unique kind of order. This discovery, detailed in my work 'Quasicrystals: A New Class of Ordered Structures,' fundamentally expanded our definition of what a solid material could be.
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