Eur. Phys. J. B 6, 425-445 (1998)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050570

Atomic self-diffusion in dodecagonal quasicrystals ^*

¹ Institut für Theoretische und Angewandte Physik, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany
² Centre de Physique Théorique, École Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France

Corresponding authors: ^a johannes@itap.physik.uni-stuttgart.de - ^b gaehler@itap.physik.uni-stuttgart.de

Received: 11 March 1998
Accepted: 30 July 1998
Published online: 15 December 1998

Abstract

A molecular dynamics study of atomic self-diffusion in Frank-Kasper type dodecagonal quasicrystals is presented. It is found that the quasicrystal-specific flip mechanism for atomic diffusion, predicted by Kalugin and Katz, indeed occurs in this system. However, in order to be effective, this mechanism needs to be catalyzed by other defects, such as half-vacancies. For this reason, it is difficult to distinguish from standard vacancy diffusion.