Terahertz sensing based on the nonlinear electrodynamics of the two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal TaIrTe4

Tairan Xi; Haotian Jiang; Jiangxu Li; Yangchen He; Yuchen Gu; Carter Fox; Louis Primeau; Yulu Mao; Jack Rollins; Takashi Taniguchi; Kenji Watanabe; Daniel van der Weide; Daniel Rhodes; Yang Zhang; Ying Wang; Jun Xiao

doi:10.1038/s41928-025-01397-z

Terahertz sensing based on the nonlinear electrodynamics of the two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal TaIrTe₄

Tairan Xi
, Haotian Jiang
, Jiangxu Li
, Yangchen He
, Yuchen Gu
, Carter Fox
, Louis Primeau
, Yulu Mao
, Jack Rollins
, Takashi Taniguchi
, Kenji Watanabe
, Daniel van der Weide
, Daniel Rhodes
, Yang Zhang
, Ying Wang
, Jun Xiao

Materials Theory

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

The development of terahertz-sensing technologies has been limited by the lack of sensitive, broadband and fast terahertz detectors. Thermal bolometers are bulky and slow, whereas electronic terahertz detectors (such as Schottky diodes) are fast, but their sensitivity degrades quickly outside a narrow frequency window. Here, we show that a two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal, tantalum iridium telluride (TaIrTe₄), has a large room-temperature nonlinear Hall effect and that the interaction between this effect and terahertz nonlinear electrodynamics can be used as a mechanism for terahertz sensing. Our photodetectors exhibit a high sensitivity (noise-equivalent power of around 1 pW Hz^−1/2) and a large zero-bias responsivity (around 0.3 A W⁻¹) over a broadband spectral range (0.1–10 THz) at room temperature with an intrinsic ultrafast response time (picoseconds). The zero-bias responsivity and noise-equivalent power performance can be further improved (to 18 A W⁻¹ and 0.05 pW Hz^−1/2, respectively) by introducing gate-tunable electron correlations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	578-586
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nature Electronics
Volume	8
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-025-01397-z
State	Published - Jul 2025

Funding

T.X., J.R. and J.X. acknowledge primary support from the Office of Naval Research (Grant No. N00014-24-1-2068). C.F. and J.X. acknowledge further support from the US National Science Foundation (Grant No. DMR-2237761). Y.M., H.J. and Y.W. acknowledge support from the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Grant No. DE-SC0024176). J.L. and L.P. are supported by the National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center programme through the UT Knoxville Center for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing (Grant No. DMR-2309083). Y.Z. is supported by the start-up fund at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. D.R. and Y.H. acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation through the University of Wisconsin Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (Grant No. DMR-2309000). K.W. and T.T. acknowledge support from the JSPS (KAKENHI Grant Nos. 21H05233 and 23H02052) and the World Premier International Research Center Initiative, MEXT, Japan. Y.G. and D.v.d.W. are supported by the US Office of Naval Research under PANTHER award number N00014-24-1-2200 through T. Bentley.

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Xi, T., Jiang, H., Li, J., He, Y., Gu, Y., Fox, C., Primeau, L., Mao, Y., Rollins, J., Taniguchi, T., Watanabe, K., van der Weide, D., Rhodes, D., Zhang, Y., Wang, Y., & Xiao, J. (2025). Terahertz sensing based on the nonlinear electrodynamics of the two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal TaIrTe₄. Nature Electronics, 8(7), 578-586. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-025-01397-z

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title = "Terahertz sensing based on the nonlinear electrodynamics of the two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal TaIrTe4",

abstract = "The development of terahertz-sensing technologies has been limited by the lack of sensitive, broadband and fast terahertz detectors. Thermal bolometers are bulky and slow, whereas electronic terahertz detectors (such as Schottky diodes) are fast, but their sensitivity degrades quickly outside a narrow frequency window. Here, we show that a two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal, tantalum iridium telluride (TaIrTe4), has a large room-temperature nonlinear Hall effect and that the interaction between this effect and terahertz nonlinear electrodynamics can be used as a mechanism for terahertz sensing. Our photodetectors exhibit a high sensitivity (noise-equivalent power of around 1 pW Hz−1/2) and a large zero-bias responsivity (around 0.3 A W−1) over a broadband spectral range (0.1–10 THz) at room temperature with an intrinsic ultrafast response time (picoseconds). The zero-bias responsivity and noise-equivalent power performance can be further improved (to 18 A W−1 and 0.05 pW Hz−1/2, respectively) by introducing gate-tunable electron correlations.",

author = "Tairan Xi and Haotian Jiang and Jiangxu Li and Yangchen He and Yuchen Gu and Carter Fox and Louis Primeau and Yulu Mao and Jack Rollins and Takashi Taniguchi and Kenji Watanabe and \{van der Weide\}, Daniel and Daniel Rhodes and Yang Zhang and Ying Wang and Jun Xiao",

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year = "2025",

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doi = "10.1038/s41928-025-01397-z",

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Xi, T, Jiang, H, Li, J, He, Y, Gu, Y, Fox, C, Primeau, L, Mao, Y, Rollins, J, Taniguchi, T, Watanabe, K, van der Weide, D, Rhodes, D, Zhang, Y, Wang, Y & Xiao, J 2025, 'Terahertz sensing based on the nonlinear electrodynamics of the two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal TaIrTe₄', Nature Electronics, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 578-586. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-025-01397-z

TY - JOUR

T1 - Terahertz sensing based on the nonlinear electrodynamics of the two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal TaIrTe4

AU - Xi, Tairan

AU - Jiang, Haotian

AU - Li, Jiangxu

AU - He, Yangchen

AU - Gu, Yuchen

AU - Fox, Carter

AU - Primeau, Louis

AU - Mao, Yulu

AU - Rollins, Jack

AU - Taniguchi, Takashi

AU - Watanabe, Kenji

AU - van der Weide, Daniel

AU - Rhodes, Daniel

AU - Zhang, Yang

AU - Wang, Ying

AU - Xiao, Jun

PY - 2025/7

Y1 - 2025/7

N2 - The development of terahertz-sensing technologies has been limited by the lack of sensitive, broadband and fast terahertz detectors. Thermal bolometers are bulky and slow, whereas electronic terahertz detectors (such as Schottky diodes) are fast, but their sensitivity degrades quickly outside a narrow frequency window. Here, we show that a two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal, tantalum iridium telluride (TaIrTe4), has a large room-temperature nonlinear Hall effect and that the interaction between this effect and terahertz nonlinear electrodynamics can be used as a mechanism for terahertz sensing. Our photodetectors exhibit a high sensitivity (noise-equivalent power of around 1 pW Hz−1/2) and a large zero-bias responsivity (around 0.3 A W−1) over a broadband spectral range (0.1–10 THz) at room temperature with an intrinsic ultrafast response time (picoseconds). The zero-bias responsivity and noise-equivalent power performance can be further improved (to 18 A W−1 and 0.05 pW Hz−1/2, respectively) by introducing gate-tunable electron correlations.

AB - The development of terahertz-sensing technologies has been limited by the lack of sensitive, broadband and fast terahertz detectors. Thermal bolometers are bulky and slow, whereas electronic terahertz detectors (such as Schottky diodes) are fast, but their sensitivity degrades quickly outside a narrow frequency window. Here, we show that a two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal, tantalum iridium telluride (TaIrTe4), has a large room-temperature nonlinear Hall effect and that the interaction between this effect and terahertz nonlinear electrodynamics can be used as a mechanism for terahertz sensing. Our photodetectors exhibit a high sensitivity (noise-equivalent power of around 1 pW Hz−1/2) and a large zero-bias responsivity (around 0.3 A W−1) over a broadband spectral range (0.1–10 THz) at room temperature with an intrinsic ultrafast response time (picoseconds). The zero-bias responsivity and noise-equivalent power performance can be further improved (to 18 A W−1 and 0.05 pW Hz−1/2, respectively) by introducing gate-tunable electron correlations.

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JO - Nature Electronics

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ER -

Terahertz sensing based on the nonlinear electrodynamics of the two-dimensional correlated topological semimetal TaIrTe₄

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