Formation and Manipulation of Diatomic Rotors at the Symmetry-Breaking Surfaces of a Kagome Superconductor

Nano Lett. 2024 May 22;24(20):6023-6030. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c00762. Epub 2024 May 13.

Abstract

Construction of diatomic rotors, which is crucial for artificial nanomachines, remains challenging due to surface constraints and limited chemical design. Here we report the construction of diatomic Cr-Cs and Fe-Cs rotors where a Cr or Fe atom switches around a Cs atom at the Sb surface of the newly discovered kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5. The switching rate is controlled by the bias voltage between the rotor and scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip. The spatial distribution of rates exhibits C2 symmetry, possibly linked to the symmetry-breaking charge orders of CsV3Sb5. We have expanded the rotor construction to include different transition metals (Cr, Fe, V) and alkali metals (Cs, K). Remarkably, designed configurations of rotors are achieved through STM manipulation. Rotor orbits and quantum states are precisely controlled by tuning the inter-rotor distance. Our findings establish a novel platform for the controlled fabrication of atomic motors on symmetry-breaking quantum materials, paving the way for advanced nanoscale devices.

Keywords: atomic manipulation; diatomic rotor; kagome superconductor; nanomachine; scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy.