Templated quasicrystalline molecular layers*

Quasicrystals are materials with long range ordering but no periodicity. We report scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) observations of quasicrystalline molecular layers on five-fold quasicrystal surfaces. The molecules adopt positions and orientations on the surface consistent with the quasicrystalline ordering of the substrate. Carbon-60 adsorbs atop sufficiently-separated Fe atoms on icosahedral Al-Cu-Fe to form a unique quasicrystalline lattice whereas further C$_{60}$ molecules decorate remaining surface Fe atoms in a quasi-degenerate fashion. Pentacene (Pn) adsorbs at tenfold-symmetric points around surface-bisected rhombic triacontahedral clusters in icosahedral Ag-In-Yb. These systems constitute the first demonstrations of quasicrystalline molecular ordering on a template.