  Determining ground states of correlated electron systems is fundamental to
understanding novel phenomena in condensed matter physics. A difficulty,
however, arises in a geometrically frustrated system in which the
incompatibility between the global topology of an underlying lattice and local
spin interactions gives rise to macroscopically degenerate ground states,
potentially prompting the emergence of quantum spin states, such as resonating
valence bond (RVB) and valence bond solid (VBS). Although theoretically
proposed to exist in a kagome lattice -- one of the most highly frustrated
lattices in two dimensions (2D) being comprised of corner-sharing triangles --
such quantum-fluctuation-induced states have not been observed experimentally.
Here we report the first realization of the "pinwheel" VBS ground state in the
S=1/2 deformed kagome lattice antiferromagnet Rb2Cu3SnF12. In this system, a
lattice distortion breaks the translational symmetry of the ideal kagome
lattice and stabilizes the VBS state.
