Piezoelectricity in quasicrystals: A group-theoretical study

Group-theoretical methods have been accepted as exact and reliable tools in studying the physical properties of crystals and quasicrystalline materials. By group representation theory, the maximum number of non-vanishing and independent second-order piezoelectric coefficients required by the seven pentagonal and two icosahedral point groups — that describe the quasicrystal symmetry groups in two and three dimensions — is determined. The schemes of non-vanishing and independent second-order piezoelectric tensor components needed by the nine point groups with five-fold rotations are identified and tabulated employing a compact notation. The results of this group-theoretical study are briefly discussed.