Some of the most intriguing properties of graphene are predicted for specifically designed nanostructures such as nanoribbons. Functionalities far beyond those known from extended graphene systems include electronic band gap variations related to quantum confinement and edge effects, as well as localized spin-polarized edge states for specific edge geometries. The inability to produce graphene nanostructures with the needed precision, however, has so far hampered the verification of the predicted electronic properties. Here, we report on the electronic band gap and dispersion of the occupied electronic bands of atomically precise graphene nanoribbons fabricated via on-surface synthesis. Angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy data from armchair graphene nanoribbons of width N = 7 supported on Au(111) reveal a band gap of 2.3 eV, an effective mass of 0.21 m(0) at the top of the valence band, and an energy-dependent charge carrier velocity reaching 8.2 × 10(5) m/s in the linear part of the valence band. These results are in quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions that include image charge corrections accounting for screening by the metal substrate and confirm the importance of electron-electron interactions in graphene nanoribbons.

The bottom-up approach to synthesize graphene nanoribbons strives not only to introduce a band gap into the electronic structure of graphene but also to accurately tune its value by designing both the width and edge structure of the ribbons with atomic precision. We report the synthesis of an armchair graphene nanoribbon with a width of nine carbon atoms on Au(111) through surface-assisted aryl-aryl coupling and subsequent cyclodehydrogenation of a properly chosen molecular precursor. By combining high-resolution atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the atomic structure of the fabricated ribbons is exactly as designed. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and Fourier-transformed scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveal an electronic band gap of 1.4 eV and effective masses of ≈0.1 m for both electrons and holes, constituting a substantial improvement over previous efforts toward the development of transistor applications. We use ab initio calculations to gain insight into the dependence of the Raman spectra on excitation wavelength as well as to rationalize the symmetry-dependent contribution of the ribbons' electronic states to the tunneling current. We propose a simple rule for the visibility of frontier electronic bands of armchair graphene nanoribbons in scanning tunneling spectroscopy.

A Weyl semimetal possesses spin-polarized band-crossings, called Weyl nodes, connected by topological surface arcs. The low-energy excitations near the crossing points behave the same as massless Weyl fermions, leading to exotic properties like chiral anomaly. To have the transport properties dominated by Weyl fermions, Weyl nodes need to locate nearly at the chemical potential and enclosed by pairs of individual Fermi surfaces with non-zero Fermi Chern numbers. Combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles calculation, here we show that TaP is a Weyl semimetal with only a single type of Weyl fermions, topologically distinguished from TaAs where two types of Weyl fermions contribute to the low-energy physical properties. The simple Weyl fermions in TaP are not only of fundamental interests but also of great potential for future applications. Fermi arcs on the Ta-terminated surface are observed, which appear in a different pattern from that on the As-termination in TaAs and NbAs.

Surfaces and interfaces o er new possibilities for tailoring the many-body interactions that dominate the electrical and thermal properties of transition metal oxides 1-4 . Here, we use the prototypical two-dimensional electron liquid (2DEL) at the SrTiO 3 (001) surface 5-7 to reveal a remarkably complex evolution of electron-phonon coupling with the tunable carrier density of this system. At low density, where superconductivity is found in the analogous 2DEL at the LaAlO 3 /SrTiO 3 interface 8-13 , our angle-resolved photoemission data show replica bands separated by 100 meV from the main bands. This is a hallmark of a coherent polaronic liquid and implies long-range coupling to a single longitudinal optical phonon branch. In the overdoped regime the preferential coupling to this branch decreases and the 2DEL undergoes a crossover to a more conventional metallic state with weaker short-range electron-phonon interaction. These results place constraints on the theoretical description of superconductivity and allow a unified understanding of the transport properties in SrTiO 3 -based 2DELs.Carrier concentration is a key parameter defining the ground state of correlated electron systems. At the LaAlO 3 /SrTiO 3 interface, the 2DEL density can be tailored by field-effect gating. As the system is depleted of carriers, its ground state evolves from a high-mobility 2DEL 4 into a two-dimensional superconductor 8-10 with pseudogap behaviour 11 and possible pairing above T c (ref. 12). An analogous 2DEL can be induced by doping the (001) surface of SrTiO 3 . As for the interface, the surface 2DEL is confined by a band-bending potential in SrTiO 3 and consists of an orbitally polarized ladder of quantum confined Ti t 2g electrons that are highly mobile in the surface plane [5][6][7]14 . Thus far, the surface 2DEL has been studied only at carrier densities around 2 × 10 14 cm −2 , approximately a factor of five higher than typically observed at the LaAlO 3 /SrTiO 3 interface [5][6][7] . In the following, we present ARPES data extending to lower carrier densities that are directly comparable to the LaAlO 3 /SrTiO 3 interface. We achieve this by preparing SrTiO 3 (001) wafers in situ, which results in well-ordered clean surfaces that can be studied by ARPES over extended timescales, as they are less susceptible to the ultraviolet-induced formation of charged oxygen vacancies reported for cleaved SrTiO 3 5,7,15,16 . Details of the sample preparation are given in Methods. Figure 1a shows an energy-momentum intensity map for a 2DEL with a carrier density of n 2D ≈ 2.9 × 10 13 cm −2 estimated from the Luttinger volume of the first light subband and the two equivalent heavy subbands (see Supplementary Section 2). The most striking features of this data are replica bands at higher binding energy following the dispersion of the primary quasiparticle (QP) bands. The replica bands are all separated by approximately 100 meV and progressively lose intensity, but can be visualized up to the third replica in the curvature plot shown in Fi...

Topological Kondo insulators have been proposed as a new class of topological insulators in which non-trivial surface states reside in the bulk Kondo band gap at low temperature due to strong spin-orbit coupling. In contrast to other three-dimensional topological insulators, a topological Kondo insulator is truly bulk insulating. Furthermore, strong electron correlations are present in the system, which may interact with the novel topological phase. By applying spin-and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, here we show that the surface states of SmB 6 are spin polarized. The spin is locked to the crystal momentum, fulfilling time reversal and crystal symmetries. Our results provide strong evidence that SmB 6 can host topological surface states in a bulk insulating gap stemming from the Kondo effect, which can serve as an ideal platform for investigating of the interplay between novel topological quantum states with emergent effects and competing orders induced by strongly correlated electrons.