Work

Fabry–Pérot Interference, g -Factor Anisotropy, and Gate-Tunable Quantum Dot in Chiral Tellurium Nanowires

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Chiral materials with strong spin–orbit coupling offer a unique platform for exploring the interplay between topology, chirality, and quantum transport, yet the quantum coherent regime in elemental tellurium nanostructures remains largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate phase-coherent quasi-ballistic transport, anisotropic Zeeman spectroscopy, and gate-tunable quantum-dot formation in hydrothermally grown t-tellurium nanowires. Single-nanowire field-effect transistors exhibit p-type transport with hole mobilities rising from ≈80 cm2 V–1 s–1 at 210 K to ≈190 cm2 V–1 s–1 at 1 K, consistent with a crossover from phonon-limited to Coulomb-scattering dominated regimes near 50 K. Notably, devices segregate into two distinct regimes based on their room-temperature two-terminal resistance: low-resistance devices (≤25.8 kΩ) exhibit Fabry–Pérot interference, whereas high-resistance devices (≥25.8 kΩ) display Coulomb-blockade behavior revealing a two-terminal resistance-driven transition between quasi-ballistic and strongly localized transport regimes. Zeeman spectroscopy in in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic fields yields highly anisotropic Landé g-factors (an in-plane g∥ = 1.18 and an out-of-plane g⊥ = 18.41) and directly resolves a spin–orbit energy gap ΔSO = 0.386 meV from an avoided crossing. These results establish chiral tellurium nanowires as a versatile platform for gate-defined spin qubits exploiting large, tunable g-factors and for hybrid tellurium–superconductor architectures targeting Majorana zero modes in an elemental van der Waals (vdW) system.

Source: ACS Applied Electronic Materials

DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.6c01296