Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding the mysterious properties of quasicrystals, a unique type of matter that defies our usual understanding of symmetry. Prof. Dan Shechtman first discovered quasicrystals in 1982. They have a structure that appears disordered at small scales but exhibits distinct patterns at larger scales. These unusual materials don’t have typical rotational or translational symmetries, yet they still exist in higher dimensions. A team of researchers has discovered that quasicrystals’ topological properties are linked to these higher dimensions, providing new insights into their behavior.

Quasicrystals have puzzled scientists for years because their atomic arrangement doesn’t fit neatly into our three-dimensional understanding. Researchers have long suspected that these structures may be periodic in higher dimensions, similar to how we can project the shadow of a three-dimensional object into two dimensions. In their latest study, published in Science, researchers used plasmonic-based systems to explore how these higher-dimensional properties affect the behavior of quasicrystals in lower dimensions, particularly in two dimensions.

In this study, scientists used a combination of near-field microscopy and two-photon photoemission electron microscopy to observe the surface wave patterns on plasmonic quasilattices. They discovered that these patterns appeared different in two dimensions but shared the same underlying topological properties, which could only be understood by looking at the quasicrystals in their higher-dimensional form. These findings support earlier theories by physicists Dov Levine and Paul Steinhardt, who explained quasicrystals as projections of higher-dimensional structures.

The research also uncovered a fascinating phenomenon in which two different topological wave patterns appeared identical after a brief time interval measured in attoseconds—an incredibly short time span. This behavior could have important implications for studying the thermodynamic properties of quasicrystals. The team plans to explore how these higher-dimensional topological properties could be applied in quantum computing or other fields that require precise control of material properties. The study opens the door to further research into the unique nature of quasicrystals and their potential technological uses.

References

• Tsesses, S., Dreher, P., Janoschka, D., Neuhaus, A., Cohen, K., Meiler, T. C., Bucher, T., Sapir, S., Frank, B., Davis, T. J., Meyer Zu Heringdorf, F., Giessen, H., & Bartal, G. (2025). Four-dimensional conserved topological charge vectors in plasmonic quasicrystals. Science, 387(6734), 644–648. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adt2495
• Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. (2025, February 13). Greetings from the fourth dimension: Scientists glimpse 4D crystal structure using surface wave patterns. Phys.Org; Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fourth-dimension-scientists-glimpse-4d.html