Artificial relativistic molecules

Park JW, Kim HS, Brumme T, Heine T, Yeom HW (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Nature Communications Nature Publishing Group: Nature Communications

Book Volume: 11

Article Number: 815

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14635-z

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.

Involved external institutions

Institute for Basic Science KR Korea, Republic of (KR) Universität Leipzig DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Park, J.W., Kim, H.S., Brumme, T., Heine, T., & Yeom, H.W. (2020). Artificial relativistic molecules. Nature Communications, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14635-z

MLA:

Park, Jae Whan, et al. "Artificial relativistic molecules." Nature Communications 11.1 (2020).

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