Fabrication of quantum wires via non-equilibrium process

Abstract

Recently, we developed a novel method to fabricate quantum wires for a Mott insulator on graphite substrates using pulsed-laser deposition, which afforded structures such as stripes, junctions, and nanorings. These single-crystalline wires are one-unit-cell in thickness and precisely two- to four-unit-cell in width, and can extend to several micrometers in length. Spectroscopy measurements and theoretical calculations reveal strong electron correlations. Moreover, our findings emphasize the importance of non-equilibrium reaction-diffusion processes in atomic-scale self-organization, which can realize exotic fractionalized states in purely one-dimensional quantum wires.