Solving the crystallographic phase problem in i(AlPdMn)

We apply a new technique for ab initio phase determination [Acta Crystallog r. Sect. A 55, 48 (1999)] to solve for the average structure of the icosahe dral (i) phase of AlPdMn. After an introduction to the crystallographic pha se problem and a description of the method, we present a brief report of ou r findings for the structure of i(AlPdMn). Despite the use of data from ext remely high quality samples, we find strong evidence of disorder in the str ucture, lending support to the random tiling model of quasicrystal stabiliz ation.