Observation of an isolated flat band in the van der Waals crystal NbOCl$_2$

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Bao, Changhua, Eggers, Vincent, Meierhofer, Manuel, Helml, Jakob, Münster, Lasse, Ito, Suguru, Machtl, Leon, Zajusch, Sarah, Inzani, Giacomo, Wittmann, Ludwig, Liebich, Marlene, Wallauer, Robert, Höfer, Ulrich, Huber, Rupert
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Bao, Changhua
Eggers, Vincent
Meierhofer, Manuel
Helml, Jakob
Münster, Lasse
Ito, Suguru
Machtl, Leon
Zajusch, Sarah
Inzani, Giacomo
Wittmann, Ludwig
Liebich, Marlene
Wallauer, Robert
Höfer, Ulrich
Huber, Rupert
author_facet Bao, Changhua
Eggers, Vincent
Meierhofer, Manuel
Helml, Jakob
Münster, Lasse
Ito, Suguru
Machtl, Leon
Zajusch, Sarah
Inzani, Giacomo
Wittmann, Ludwig
Liebich, Marlene
Wallauer, Robert
Höfer, Ulrich
Huber, Rupert
contents Dispersionless electronic bands lead to an extremely high density of states and suppressed kinetic energy, thereby increasing electronic correlations and instabilities that can shape emergent ordered states, such as excitonic, ferromagnetic, and superconducting phases. A flat band that extends over the entire momentum space and is well isolated from other dispersive bands is, therefore, particularly interesting. Here, the band structure of the van der Waals crystal NbOCl$_2$ is revealed by utilizing photoelectron momentum microscopy. We directly map out an electronic band that is flat throughout the entire Brillouin zone and features a width of only $\sim$100 meV. This band is well isolated from both the conduction and remote valence bands. Moreover, the quasiparticle band gap shows a high tunability upon the deposition of caesium atoms on the surface. By combining the single-particle band structure with the optical transmission spectrum, the optical gap is identified. The fully isolated flat band in a van der Waals crystal provides a qualitatively new testbed for exploring flat-band physics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_16688
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Observation of an isolated flat band in the van der Waals crystal NbOCl$_2$
Bao, Changhua
Eggers, Vincent
Meierhofer, Manuel
Helml, Jakob
Münster, Lasse
Ito, Suguru
Machtl, Leon
Zajusch, Sarah
Inzani, Giacomo
Wittmann, Ludwig
Liebich, Marlene
Wallauer, Robert
Höfer, Ulrich
Huber, Rupert
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Dispersionless electronic bands lead to an extremely high density of states and suppressed kinetic energy, thereby increasing electronic correlations and instabilities that can shape emergent ordered states, such as excitonic, ferromagnetic, and superconducting phases. A flat band that extends over the entire momentum space and is well isolated from other dispersive bands is, therefore, particularly interesting. Here, the band structure of the van der Waals crystal NbOCl$_2$ is revealed by utilizing photoelectron momentum microscopy. We directly map out an electronic band that is flat throughout the entire Brillouin zone and features a width of only $\sim$100 meV. This band is well isolated from both the conduction and remote valence bands. Moreover, the quasiparticle band gap shows a high tunability upon the deposition of caesium atoms on the surface. By combining the single-particle band structure with the optical transmission spectrum, the optical gap is identified. The fully isolated flat band in a van der Waals crystal provides a qualitatively new testbed for exploring flat-band physics.
title Observation of an isolated flat band in the van der Waals crystal NbOCl$_2$
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.16688