Emergence of Large-scale Patterns in Soft Quasicrystals

Emergence of Large-scale Patterns in Soft Quasicrystals | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Emergence of Large-scale Patterns in Soft Quasicrystals Stephan Rudykh, Dean Chen, Nitesh Arora, Yuhai Xiang, Qi Yao, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6776412/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We report the experimental observations of large-scale pattern formation in soft quasicrystals activated by mechanical loading. The soft material system utilizes localized transformations to give rise to large-scale organized patterns. The complex multiscale mechanisms lead to an initial loss of microscale quasi-crystalline order, which ultimately reemerges in the large-scale patterns with rotational symmetry. Our experiments demonstrate that the resulting large-scale patterns can be pre-designed by fine-tuning initial local chirality at small length scales. Furthermore, different initial configurations result in patterns exhibiting high shape similarity, with characteristic lengths falling within a discrete sequence governed by the silver ratio. This experimentally observed phenomenon opens a new class of transformative materials with switchable self-similarity propagating across length scales. Physical sciences/Materials science/Soft materials/Polymers Physical sciences/Materials science/Structural materials/Composites Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files EmergenceofLargescalePatternsinSoftQuasicrystalsSupplementaryInformationNM2025.pdf Supplementary Information SupplementaryPhoto1.jpg Supplementary Photo 1 SupplementaryPhoto2.jpg Supplementary Photo 2 SupplementaryMovie1.mp4 Supplementary Movie 1 SupplementaryMovie2.mp4 Supplementary Movie 2 SupplementaryMovie3.mp4 Supplementary Movie 3 SupplementaryMovie4.mp4 Supplementary Movie 4 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6776412","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":481660827,"identity":"89404442-7dbf-4713-a923-2f30d2eed26a","order_by":0,"name":"Stephan Rudykh","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAp0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACA8bGBhsGNhCThwQtaQxsbCRqOczAQLQW8xnJ2yRn7jgfzSffwPjgbRsRWmRupJVJbjxzO7eNjYHZcC4xWiQkcswkH7aBtbBJ85Kg5RxIC/tv4rVsbDsAtoWZOC08z4otZ7YlA7UkNkvOOUeMFvbkjTd72+xy5zcfPvjhTRkRWoCARQJCMzYQpx4ImD8QrXQUjIJRMApGJgAAPSgzL1QwW6sAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4568-8326","institution":"University of Wisconsin-Madison","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Stephan","middleName":"","lastName":"Rudykh","suffix":""},{"id":481660828,"identity":"25799949-ccae-4618-a61e-f70f4ab97536","order_by":1,"name":"Dean Chen","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9527-7720","institution":"University of California, Los Angeles","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dean","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":481660829,"identity":"f900b46d-55ad-4d92-8d87-e8ed180593ed","order_by":2,"name":"Nitesh Arora","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2301-4264","institution":"Georgia Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nitesh","middleName":"","lastName":"Arora","suffix":""},{"id":481660830,"identity":"0bbb2fbe-5f70-4df9-8570-c032e5d96c68","order_by":3,"name":"Yuhai Xiang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tokyo Electron America, Inc.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yuhai","middleName":"","lastName":"Xiang","suffix":""},{"id":481660831,"identity":"e4dc13a7-ff35-4205-a314-6f2723922199","order_by":4,"name":"Qi Yao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Wisconsin–Madison","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qi","middleName":"","lastName":"Yao","suffix":""},{"id":481660832,"identity":"8c192466-48d8-47d1-8c91-e284c9f3bab9","order_by":5,"name":"Quan Zhang","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8037-8446","institution":"University Of Galway","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Quan","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-29 12:21:55","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6776412/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6776412/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":86205518,"identity":"300e0cf8-6ad3-4104-9a2d-3eb2977078c6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-08 02:40:58","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":8552415,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"EmergenceofLargescalePatternsinSoftQuasicrystalsManuscriptNM2025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6776412/v1_covered_e840da49-ee10-4d2b-895c-bf341b2a2a4d.pdf"},{"id":86204857,"identity":"690a9878-03a3-4887-b3e1-16b58abe765f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-08 02:32:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":181418,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information","description":"","filename":"EmergenceofLargescalePatternsinSoftQuasicrystalsSupplementaryInformationNM2025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6776412/v1/1af05bda0e73569e034c1a12.pdf"},{"id":86205517,"identity":"b3e0c8e0-6225-4e06-90cd-b1207d4cee5b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-08 02:40:51","extension":"jpg","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":9793749,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Photo 1","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryPhoto1.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6776412/v1/7968bc6ac9f53553f8b83a36.jpg"},{"id":86204920,"identity":"1dfd2af5-deed-49cc-965a-70bae86cc409","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-08 02:32:51","extension":"jpg","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":10210083,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Photo 2","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryPhoto2.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6776412/v1/6b670da12da17751eb04d2f7.jpg"},{"id":86204860,"identity":"7ec516b1-a041-433b-8039-45bf648c8c13","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-08 02:32:34","extension":"mp4","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":17997781,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupplementary Movie 1\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryMovie1.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6776412/v1/ecf6f1500570d5feeb311f37.mp4"},{"id":86204864,"identity":"0cee4019-0488-4778-8aeb-c1f2baf2be93","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-08 02:32:36","extension":"mp4","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":22345064,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupplementary Movie 2\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryMovie2.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6776412/v1/42ebeaa29a0328eebe5d5064.mp4"},{"id":86204862,"identity":"6156266b-4ce5-48a1-8c9f-aff180c8375e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-08 02:32:35","extension":"mp4","order_by":6,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":22049421,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupplementary Movie 3\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryMovie3.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6776412/v1/056cfe1be61d8bdc21abc9b8.mp4"},{"id":86204863,"identity":"9cc43730-cc1e-45c8-be91-253fc416c520","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-08 02:32:35","extension":"mp4","order_by":7,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":70404588,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupplementary Movie 4\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryMovie4.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6776412/v1/c1da3894ed031734ef9c2637.mp4"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Emergence of Large-scale Patterns in Soft Quasicrystals","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6776412/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6776412/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"We report the experimental observations of large-scale pattern formation in soft quasicrystals activated by mechanical loading. The soft material system utilizes localized transformations to give rise to large-scale organized patterns. The complex multiscale mechanisms lead to an initial loss of microscale quasi-crystalline order, which ultimately reemerges in the large-scale patterns with rotational symmetry. Our experiments demonstrate that the resulting large-scale patterns can be pre-designed by fine-tuning initial local chirality at small length scales. Furthermore, different initial configurations result in patterns exhibiting high shape similarity, with characteristic lengths falling within a discrete sequence governed by the silver ratio. This experimentally observed phenomenon opens a new class of transformative materials with switchable self-similarity propagating across length scales.","manuscriptTitle":"Emergence of Large-scale Patterns in Soft Quasicrystals","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-07-08 02:32:27","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6776412/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"1d06b624-7a84-4d24-baaa-daec27e72ef7","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 8th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":51138887,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Soft materials/Polymers"},{"id":51138888,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Structural materials/Composites"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-30T11:45:24+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-07-08 02:32:27","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6776412","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6776412","identity":"rs-6776412","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}