Crystallization as an ordering phenomenon is not restricted to atoms. Molecules, polymers, nanometre-sized particles and colloids also form crystals, following similar thermodynamic principles. This realization has led to considerable efforts to mimic atomic crystals on nanometre and larger scales to obtain novel materials that can, for example, trap and bend light in unusual ways. One class of structure that has captured the attention of soft-matter scientists is aperiodic crystals known as quasicrystals, whose rotational symmetries were once thought to be forbidden in solids. In work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Fischer et al .1
