Over the past seven years, many examples of periodic crystals closely related to quasicrystalline alloys have been discovered. These crystals have been termed approximants, since the arrangements of atoms within their unit cells closely approximate the local atomic structures in quasicrystals. This colloquium focuses on these approximant structures, their description, and their relationship to quasicrystals.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.65.213