A flat band-induced correlated kagome metal

Abstract: The notion of an electronic flat band refers to a collectively degenerate set of quantum mechanical eigenstates in periodic solids. The vanishing kinetic energy of flat bands relative to the electron-electron interaction is expected to result in a variety of many-body quantum phases of matter. Despite intense theoretical interest, systematic design and experimental realization of such flat band-driven correlated states in natural crystals have remained a challenge. Here we report the realization of a partially filled flat band in a new single crystalline kagome metal Ni$_3$In. This flat band is found to arise from the Ni $3d$-orbital wave functions localized at triangular motifs within the kagome lattice plane, where an underlying destructive interference among hopping paths flattens the dispersion. We observe unusual metallic and thermodynamic responses suggestive of the presence of local fluctuating magnetic moments originating from the flat band states, which together with non-Fermi liquid behavior indicate proximity to quantum criticality. These results demonstrate a lattice and orbital engineering approach to designing flat band-based many-body phenomena that may be applied to integrate correlation with topology and as a novel means to construct quantum criticality.