Correlation between spatial and spectral inhomogeneities in the quasi one-dimensional purple bronze Li0.9Mo6O17

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.

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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