2023/06/08 by Emil Sierda, Xiaochun Huang, Danis I. Badrtdinov +7 · 1 voice · 2 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #Machine Learning in Materials Science #Quantum and electron transport phenomena
paper · doi:10.1126/science.adf2685
openalex publication_date 2023/06/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Bottom-up quantum simulators have been developed to quantify the role of various interactions, dimensionality, and structure in creating electronic states of matter. Here, we demonstrated a solid-state quantum simulator emulating molecular orbitals, based solely on positioning individual cesium atoms on an indium antimonide surface. Using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, combined with ab initio calculations, we showed that artificial atoms could be made from localized states created from patterned cesium rings. These artificial atoms served as building blocks to realize artificial molecular structures with different orbital symmetries. These corresponding molecular orbitals allowed us to simulate two-dimensional structures reminiscent of well-known organic molecules. This platform could further be used to monitor the interplay between atomic structures and the resulting molecular orbital landscape with submolecular precision.