Evidences of subnanometre orbital diffusion length in heavy metals using terahertz emission spectroscopy.

Tongyang Guan, Jiahao Liu, Wentao Qin, Yongwei Cui, Shunjia Wang, Yizheng Wu, Zhensheng Tao

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Article in Nature nanotechnology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

Ultrashort orbital diffusion length.Nature nanotechnology · 2026
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7 authors.

Tongyang Guan *State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

Jiahao Liu *State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

Wentao QinState Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

Yongwei CuiState Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

Shunjia WangState Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

Yizheng WuState Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. wuyizheng@fudan.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9289-1271

Zhensheng TaoState Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. zhenshengtao@fudan.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8727-3719

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 12450407

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The orbital angular momentum of electrons offers a promising, yet underexplored, degree of freedom for ultrafast, energy-efficient information processing. As the foundation of orbitronics, understanding how orbital polarizations propagate and convert into charge currents is essential but remains elusive due to the challenge in disentangling orbital and spin dynamics in thin films. While some theoretical studies predict that orbital transport is constrained to sub-atomic-layer scales in materials, recent experiments have reported exceptionally long orbital diffusion lengths. To address this contradiction, we combine terahertz emission spectroscopy with a wedge-sample platform to systematically investigate spin and orbital transport in heavy metals with subnanometre resolution. Our measurements access the previously unexplored thin-film regimes (<3 nm), uncovering anomalous behaviours that challenge the prevailing interpretations of long-range orbital transport. We consistently find the orbital diffusion lengths (λ

Identifiers

PMID41786901

DOI10.1038/s41565-026-02125-0

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