Engineering of robust topological quantum phases in graphene nanoribbons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to create and control topological quantum phases in graphene nanoribbons using precise atomic engineering, enabling potential applications in quantum computing.

Contribution

The authors develop a flexible strategy to realize and manipulate topological phases in graphene nanoribbons through controlled coupling of boundary states.

Findings

Successfully engineered topological boundary states in GNR junctions.

Experimentally identified trivial and non-trivial phases via scanning tunneling spectroscopy.

Potential to tune electronic properties for quantum information applications.

Abstract

Here we present a flexible strategy to realize robust nanomaterials exhibiting valence electronic structures whose fundamental physics is described by the SSH-Hamiltonian. These solid-state materials are realized using atomically precise graphene nanoribbons (GNR). We demonstrate the controlled periodic coupling of topological boundary states at junctions of armchair GNRs of different widths to create quasi-1D trivial and non-trivial electronic quantum phases. Their topological class is experimentally determined by drawing upon the bulk-boundary correspondence and measuring the presence (non-trivial) or absence (trivial) of localized end states by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS). The strategy we propose has the potential to tune the band width of the topological electronic bands close to the energy scale of proximity induced spin-orbit coupling or superconductivity, and may allow the realization of Kitaev like Hamiltonians and Majorana type end states.