Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

Terahertz light confined to the nanoscale with hafnium dichalcogenides

Terahertz technology has the potential to push the speed limit of future opto-electronic applications, but the large free-space wavelength of terahertz light hinders nanoscale device implementation. Now, the confinement of terahertz light to the nanometre scale is demonstrated using phonon polaritons in hafnium-based van der Waals crystals.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Observation of ultraconfined THz phonon polaritons in hafnium dichalcogenides.

References

  1. Chen, S. et al. Real-space observation of ultraconfined in-plane anisotropic acoustic terahertz plasmon polaritons. Nat. Mater. 22, 860–866 (2023). This paper reports highly confined, elliptical THz plasmon polaritons in Ag2Te.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. de Oliveira, T. V. A. G. et al. Nanoscale‐confined terahertz polaritons in a van der Waals crystal. Adv. Mater. 33, 2005777 (2021). This article presents strongly confined anisotropic THz phonon polaritons in α-MoO3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Kowalski, R. A. et al. Mid- to far-infrared anisotropic dielectric function of HfS2 and HfSe2. Adv. Opt. Mater. 10, 2200933 (2022). This paper reports the ultrastrong light–matter coupling in hafnium dichalcogenides.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. García de Abajo, F. J. et al. Roadmap for photonics with 2D materials. ACS Photonics 12, 3961–4095 (2025). This roadmap discusses the future perspectives of photonics research using 2D materials.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Handa, T. et al. Terahertz emission from giant optical rectification in a van der Waals material. Nat. Mater. 24, 1203–1208 (2025). This article reports efficient THz generation from the ferroelectric vdW crystal NbOI2.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Kowalski, R. A. et al. Ultraconfined terahertz phonon polaritons in hafnium dichalcogenides. Nat. Mater. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02345-0 (2025).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Terahertz light confined to the nanoscale with hafnium dichalcogenides. Nat. Mater. 24, 1688–1689 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02353-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02353-0

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing