2025/12/18 by Benjamin Lowe, Benjamin Löwe, B.O. Field +25 · 2 voices
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #FOS: Physical sciences #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) #Surface Chemistry and Catalysis #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.16194
openalex publication_date 2025/12/18 · arxiv published 2025/12/18 · arxiv updated 2025/12/18 · openalex created_date 2025/12/21 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Two-dimensional (2D) materials with frustrated crystal geometries can host strongly correlated electrons, potentially leading to a range of exotic many-body quantum phases such as Mott insulators, quantum spin-liquids, and Kondo lattices. The ability to control exchange-coupling within these systems is therefore highly desirable. Here, we use an atomically sharp scanning tunneling microscope probe to vertically manipulate a 2D Mott insulating kagome metal-organic framework (MOF) featuring Kondo-screened local magnetic moments on Ag(111). We show that by controlling the adsorption height of the MOF, we can also controllably and reversibly change the strength of Kondo coupling between the MOF's local spins and the substrate's conduction electrons. This mechanical control of Kondo coupling could be extended to other forms of interlayer exchange coupling, potentially allowing for atomic-scale design or control of spintronics technologies.