Atomically precise engineering of spin–orbit polarons in a kagome magnetic Weyl semimetal
Atomically precise defect engineering is essential to manipulate the properties of emerging topological quantum materials for practical quantum applications. However, this remains challenging due to the obstacles in modifying the typically complex crystal lattice with atomic precision. Here, we repo...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Nature communications 2024-03, Vol.15 (1), p.2301-2301, Article 2301 |
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Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | Atomically precise defect engineering is essential to manipulate the properties of emerging topological quantum materials for practical quantum applications. However, this remains challenging due to the obstacles in modifying the typically complex crystal lattice with atomic precision. Here, we report the atomically precise engineering of the vacancy-localized spin–orbit polarons in a kagome magnetic Weyl semimetal Co
3
Sn
2
S
2
, using scanning tunneling microscope. We achieve the step-by-step repair of the selected vacancies, leading to the formation of artificial sulfur vacancies with elaborate geometry. We find that that the bound states localized around these vacancies undergo a symmetry dependent energy shift towards Fermi level with increasing vacancy size. As the vacancy size increases, the localized magnetic moments of spin–orbit polarons become tunable and eventually become itinerantly negative due to spin–orbit coupling in the kagome flat band. These findings provide a platform for engineering atomic quantum states in topological quantum materials at the atomic scale.
Defect engineering in topological materials is a frontier that promises tunable physical properties with rich applications. Here, the authors demonstrate the atomically precise engineering of vacancies in a topological semimetal, which locally tunes the magnetic properties. |
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ISSN: | 2041-1723 2041-1723 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-024-46729-3 |