Heat conductivity of three-dimensional regular structures of crystalline and amorphous selenium incorporated in voids of synthetic opal

Opal-based nanocomposites with selenium pressure-injected from the melt into first-order opal voids have been prepared. Two types of nanocomposites, with crystalline and amorphous selenium incorporated in opal voids, were studied. Their thermal conductivities were measured in the temperature range 4.2-200 K. An analysis of these data suggests that a new type of physical media has been developed, namely, quasicrystals with a large lattice constant and heavy "atomic" masses, formed from first-order opal voids interconnected by channels and filled by crystalline or amorphous selenium, (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-7834(98)03903-3].