Anisotropic packing and diffraction-peak shifts in icosahedral glasses

Abstract

We show that the anisotropic random packing of units with icosahedral symmetry produces diffraction patterns with distortions similar to recent electron and x-ray diffraction measurements. Using the Hendricks-Teller formalism discussed in an earlier paper, we show that the peak shifts predicted by the introduction of phason strain in an ideal quasilattice may also be described by this anisotropic, random-packing, icosahedral glass model.