Patricia A. Thiel

Thiel is a leading authority on the surfaces of a class of complex intermetallics known as quasicrystals, in which the atomic arrangement is highly ordered, but not periodic. These materials exhibit anomalous surface properties. She was the first to examine the reactivity of quasicrystal surfaces and provide a detailed analysis of their structure. She discovered that the surface structure is bulk-truncated, which in turn laid the foundation for understanding surface properties, importantly friction. Thiel is also a leader in nanostructure formation and relaxation on metal surfaces where she demonstrated novel modes for coarsening: island diffusion and metal-adsorbate complex formation.