Room-Temperature Studies of Li$_{0.9}$Mo$_{6}$O$_{17}$ by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

The lithium purple bronze (Li$_{0.9}$Mo$_{6}$O$_{17}$) is a quasi-1 dimensional material as evidenced by high anisotropy in resistivity and thermal conductivity measurements. The material has garnered interest due to experimental evidence for Luttinger Liquid physics from 25 K to 300 K. Here we present our room-temperature topographic and spectroscopic scanning tunneling microscopy measurements on Li$_{0.9}$Mo$_{6}$O$_{17}$. We interpret the observed topographic and spectroscopic features in the context of previous bulk and surface measurements as well as theoretical models describing the 1-dimensional physics of the lithium purple bronze.