Engineered electronic states in atomically precise artificial lattices and graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

The fabrication of atomically precise structures with designer electronic properties is one of the emerging topics in condensed matter physics. The required level of structural control can either be reached through atomic manipulation using the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) or by bottom-up chemical synthesis. In this review, we focus on recent progress in constructing novel, atomically precise artificial materials: artificial lattices built through atom manipulation and graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) realized by on-surface synthesis. We summarize the required theoretical background and the latest experiments on artificial lattices, topological states in one-dimensional lattices, experiments on graphene nanoribbons and graphene nanoribbon heterostructures, and topological states in graphene nanoribbons. Finally, we conclude our review with an outlook to designer quantum materials with engineered electronic structure.

Keywords

• on-surface synthesis
• artificial lattices
• graphene nanoribbons
• scanning probe microscopy
• engineered electronic structure