In a rare non-magnetic kagome material, a topological metal cools into a superconductor through a sequence of novel charge density waves. Researchers have discovered a complex landscape of electronic states that can co-exist on a kagome lattice, resembling those in high-temperature superconductors, a team of Boston College physicists reports in an advance electronic publication of the journal Nature. The focus of the study was a bulk single crystal of a topological kagome metal, known as CsV3Sb5 – a metal that becomes superconducting below 2.5 degrees Kelvin, or minus 455 degrees Fahrenheit. The exotic material is built from atomic planes composed of Vanadium atoms arranged on a so-called kagome lattice – described as a pattern of interlaced triangles and hexagons –  stacked on top of one another, with Cesium and Antimony spacer layers between the kagome planes. The material offers a window into how the physical properties of quantum solids — such as light transmission, elec...