Realizing kagome band structure in two-dimensional kagome surface states of RV₆Sn₆ (R=Gd, Ho)

We report angle resolved photoemission experiments on a newly discovered family of kagome metals RV₆Sn₆ (R=Gd, Ho). Intrinsic bulk states and surface states of the vanadium kagome layer are differentiated from those of other atomic sublattices by the real-space resolution of the measurements with a small beam spot. Characteristic Dirac cone, saddle point and flat bands of the kagome lattice are observed. Our results establish the two-dimensional (2D) kagome surface states as a new platform to investigate the intrinsic kagome physics.