Discovery of chiral charge order in kagome superconductors AV₃Sb₅ (A=K, Rb, Cs) and beyond

Quantum orders featuring magnetic and electronic duality are rare in nature. A chiral charge order with orbital currents has been proposed for achieving the quantum anomalous Hall effect in topological materials and for the hidden phase in cuprate high-temperature superconductors. However, the experimental realization of such an order is challenging. I will discuss our discovery of a 2x2 chiral charge order in kagome superconductors AV₃Sb₅ (A=K, Rb, Cs) and beyond. In these materials, we use magnetic field perturbed scanning tunneling microscopy to observe the 2x2 modulations in both topography and spectroscopy imaging. The 2x2 electronic order exhibits chirality, which can couple with an external magnetic field or intrinsic magnetic order. I will further discuss the implications of the chiral charge order in the kagome lattice.