Yujie Lan, Yuhao Lei, Congcong Le, Brenden R. Ortiz, Nicholas C. Plumb, Milan Radovic, Xianxin Wu, Ming Shi, Stephen D. Wilson, Yong Hu
Kagome materials offer a versatile platform for exploring correlated and topological quantum states, where Van Hove singularities (VHSs) play a pivotal role in driving electronic instabilities, exhibiting distinct behaviors depending on electron filling and interaction settings. In the recently discovered kagome superconductors AV_{3}Sb_{5} (A=K, Rb, Cs), unconventional charge density wave order, superconductivity, and electronic chirality emerge, yet the nature of VHSs near the Fermi level (E_{F}) and their connection to these exotic orders remain elusive. Here, using high-resolution polarization-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we uncover a universal electronic structure across AV_{3}Sb_{5} that is distinct from density-functional theory predictions that show noticeable discrepancies. We identify multiple common sublattice-pure VHSs near E_{F}, arising from strong V-d/Sb-p hybridization, which significantly promote bond-order fluctuations and likely drive the observed charge density wave order. These findings provide direct spectroscopic evidence for hybridization-driven VHS formation in kagome metals and establish a unified framework for understanding the intertwined electronic instabilities in AV_{3}Sb_{5}.