Correlation between spatial and spectral inhomogeneities in the quasi one-dimensional purple bronze Li<sub>0.9</sub>Mo<sub>6</sub>O<sub>17</sub>

ORAL

Abstract

The marked deviation from Fermi liquid behavior for the quasi-one-dimensional (1D) purple bronze Li0.9Mo6O17 (LMO) has been observed both by bulk transport and by surface-sensitive spectroscopic probes, and has generated much theoretical interest. Here we present spectroscopic scanning tunneling microscope (STM) images of 1D 'chains' on the surface of LMO. We find that the Coulomb suppression of tunneling around the Fermi energy is inhomogenous on the nanometer length scale, which necessitates a revision of the existing model of Luttinger-liquid-like behavior that was based on spatially-averaged spectroscopic techniques. We further report that chains of varying length exhibit resonances at varying energies, and we discuss the implications of this phenomenon for modeling the surface structure of LMO as a 1D quantum system.

–

Presenters

  • Samuel Detmer

    • Harvard University

Authors

  • Samuel Detmer

    • Harvard University

  • Anjan Soumyanarayanan

    • Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
    • Harvard University
    • ASTAR

  • Michael Yee

    • Harvard University

  • Yang He

    • Department of Physics, Harvard University
    • Harvard University

  • Martha Greenblatt

    • Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University

  • Nigel Hussey

    • Physics, University of Bristol

  • Jennifer Hoffman

    • Physics, Harvard University
    • Department of Physics, Harvard University
    • Harvard University
    • Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States