Artificial relativistic molecules
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
We fabricate artificial molecules composed of heavy atom lead on a van der Waals crystal. Pb atoms templated on a honeycomb charge-order superstructure of IrTe2 form clusters ranging from dimers to heptamers including benzene-shaped ring hexamers. Tunneling spectroscopy and electronic structure calculations reveal the formation of unusual relativistic molecular orbitals within the clusters. The spin–orbit coupling is essential both in forming such Dirac electronic states and stabilizing the artificial molecules by reducing the adatom–substrate interaction. Lead atoms are found to be ideally suited for a maximized relativistic effect. This work initiates the use of novel two-dimensional orderings to guide the fabrication of artificial molecules of unprecedented properties.
Details
Original language | English |
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Article number | 815 |
Journal | Nature communications |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2020 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
PubMed | 32041955 |
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