Tunable topological phases in nanographene-based spin-1/2 alternating-exchange Heisenberg chains

Unlocking the potential of topological order within many-body spin systems has long been a central pursuit in the realm of quantum materials. Despite extensive efforts, the quest for a versatile platform enabling site-selective spin manipulation, essential for tuning and probing diverse topological phases, has persisted. Here, we utilize on-surface synthesis to construct spin-1/2 alternating-exchange Heisenberg (AH) chains1 with antiferromagnetic couplings J₁ and J₂ by covalently linking Clar's goblets -- nanographenes each hosting two antiferromagnetically-coupled unpaired electrons2. Utilizing scanning tunneling microscopy, we exert atomic-scale control over the spin chain lengths, parities and exchange-coupling terminations, and probe their magnetic response by means of inelastic tunneling spectroscopy. Our investigation confirms the gapped nature of bulk excitations in the chains, known as triplons3. Besides, the triplon dispersion relation is successfully extracted from the spatial variation of tunneling spectral amplitudes. Furthermore, depending on the parity and termination of chains, we observe varying numbers of in-gap S=1/2 edge spins, enabling the determination of the degeneracy of distinct topological ground states in the thermodynamic limit-either 1, 2, or 4. By monitoring interactions between these edge spins, we identify the exponential decay of spin correlations. Our experimental findings, corroborated by theoretical calculations, present a phase-controlled many-body platform, opening promising avenues toward the development of spin-based quantum devices.