Disassembling one-dimensional chains in molybdenum oxides

TL;DR

This paper investigates the crystal and electronic structures of molybdenum-oxide compounds, focusing on their 1D chains, to understand and manipulate emergent quantum phenomena related to dimensionality.

Contribution

It systematically disassembles 1D chains in molybdenum oxides and develops effective models to accurately describe their low-energy electronic structures, advancing understanding of dimensionality effects.

Findings

Effective models fit ab initio electronic structures well

Chains exhibit rich tunability and complexity

Implications for physical properties and quantum systems

Abstract

The dimensionality of quantum materials strongly affects their physical properties. Although many emergent phenomena, such as charge-density wave and Luttinger liquid behavior, are well understood in one-dimensional (1D) systems, the generalization to explore them in higher dimensional systems is still a challenging task. In this study, we aim to bridge this gap by systematically investigating the crystal and electronic structures of molybdenum-oxide family compounds, where the contexture of 1D chains facilitates rich emergent properties. While the quasi-1D chains in these materials share general similarities, such as the motifs made up of MoO6 octahedrons, they exhibit vast complexity and remarkable tunability. We disassemble the 1D chains in molybdenum oxides with different dimensions and construct effective models to excellently fit their low-energy electronic structures obtained by ab initio calculations. Furthermore, we discuss the implications of such chains on other physical properties of the materials and the practical significance of the effective models. Our work establishes the molybdenum oxides as simple and tunable model systems for studying and manipulating the dimensionality in quantum systems.