Formation of an Intermediate Valence Icosahedral Quasicrystal in the Au-Sn-Yb System.

We report on the formation of a new icosahedral quasicrystal (iQC) in the Au-Sn-Yb alloy system. This iQC has a primitive icosahedral lattice with a lattice constant aico of 0.5447(7) nm and a composition that was determined to be Au60.0Sn26.7Yb13.3. X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurement of the near Yb L3 edge demonstrates that the Yb valence in the iQC is an intermediate valence between divalent (4f14) and trivalent (4f13) at ambient pressure and was determined to be 2.18+. The results are compared to those for a corresponding 2/1 cubic approximant crystal. The formation of this new iQC is discussed in terms of the atomic size factor (δ) and the valence electron-to-atom ratio (e/a).