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