The number indicates what-fold rotational symmetry they have, so the symbol labeled C2 has two-fold symmetry, for example. All cyclic shapes have a mirror image that “spins the other way. ...

The five-fold rotational symmetry around point A is valid enough. But if you look closely, you’ll see that the pinwheels at B and C in fact have minor differences from the one at A.

A sample with 10-fold rotational symmetry therefore remains unchanged after being rotated through 360/10 = 36 degrees. Before Shechtman’s discovery, a 2D ordered system was only supposed to have ...

But while it’s possible to create wallpaper with two-, three-, four- or six-fold rotational symmetries, it is impossible to do so with five-fold rotational symmetry. This limitation, which ...

Researchers have found that crystals of a recently discovered superconducting material, a layered bismuth chalcogenide with a four-fold symmetric structure, shows only two-fold symmetry in its ...

But instead of having the expected six-fold symmetry, the researchers found the electronic structure on the surface of the iron-tin alloy has two-fold rotational symmetry. “We had expected to find ...

Courtesy of This shows examples of the seven families of symmetry groups with six-fold rotational symmetry. Andrew Kepert/Wikipedia Grossman is particularly intrigued with the symmetry group of ...

Rotational symmetry breaking of magnetoresistance in LaO 0.5 F 0.5 BiSSe under in-plane magnetic fields, possibly due to electronic nematicity. Credit: Tokyo Metropolitan University. The material ...