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  • Review Article
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Nanoscale terahertz scanning probe microscopy

Abstract

Terahertz radiation has become an important diagnostic tool in the development of new technologies. However, the diffraction limit prevents terahertz radiation (λ ≈ 0.01–3 mm) from being focused to the nanometre length scale of modern devices. In response to this challenge, terahertz scanning probe microscopy techniques based on coupling terahertz radiation to subwavelength probes such as sharp tips have been developed. These probes enhance and confine the light, improving the spatial resolution of terahertz experiments by up to six orders of magnitude. In this Review, we survey terahertz scanning probe microscopy techniques that achieve spatial resolution on the scale of micrometres to ångströms, with particular emphasis on their overarching approaches and underlying probing mechanisms. Finally, we forecast the next steps in the field.

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Fig. 1: Zooming in on surfaces with terahertz microscopy.
Fig. 2: Scattering-type scanning near-field terahertz microscopy.
Fig. 3: Alternate tip-based terahertz near-field nanoscopy techniques.
Fig. 4: Ultrafast THz-STM imaging at nano and atomic scales.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. Mester (CIC nanoGUNE BRTA) for the preparation of panel e of the figure in Box 1. T.L.C. acknowledges financial support from the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR award number N00014−19-1-2051) and the Cowen Family Endowment. R.H. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (national project number RTI2018-094830-B-100 and project number MDM-2016-0618 of the Marie de Maeztu Units of Excellence Program) and the Basque Government (grant number IT1164-19). F.A.H. acknowledges support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) Strategic Chairs Program.

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Correspondence to T. L. Cocker.

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R.H. is a co-founder of Neaspec GmbH, a company producing scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope systems, such as the ones described in this Review. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Photonics thanks Mengkun Liu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Cocker, T.L., Jelic, V., Hillenbrand, R. et al. Nanoscale terahertz scanning probe microscopy. Nat. Photon. 15, 558–569 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-021-00835-6

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