Structure and Stability of the Twofold Surface of Icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn by Low-Energy Electron Diffraction and X-Ray Photoemission Spectroscopy

Abstract

We have used low-energy electron diffraction and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy to investigate the structure of the twofold surface of icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn. The regrowth of the surface by annealing after sputtering took place in two distinct stages. The first stage was the appearance of a fine-grained surface phase with icosahedral, or near-icosahedral, symmetry. For higher annealing temperatures (above 800 K) a bulk terminated face-centered icosahedral surface was observed.