title: A smectic dodecagonal quasicrystal.
abstract: We report a solid smectic phase that exhibits dodecagonal global order. It is composed of axially stacked hexagonally ordered particle layers, and its 12-fold rotational symmetry induced by the 30° rotation of adjacent layers with respect to each other. A quasicrystal was produced in a molecular-dynamics simulation of a single-component system of particles interacting via a spherically-symmetric potential. It was formed as a result of a first-order phase transition from an isotropic liquid state that occurred under constant-density cooling. This finding implies that a similarly structured quasicrystal can possibly be produced by the same class of systems as those forming smectic-B crystals. This quasicrystal can also be expected to arise in a system of spherically-shaped colloidal particles with appropriately tuned potential.
authors.affiliation: Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Computational Materials Science in the Condensed Matter and Materials Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue L-367, Livermore, CA - 94550, USA. metere1@llnl.gov.
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0237-7250
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Metere
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, Arrhenius Väg. 16C, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Oleynikov
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dzugutov
authors.affiliation: Division of Polymer & Materials Chemistry Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lidin