Abstract
The nonlinear Hall effect with time-reversal symmetry is a second-order electronic transport phenomenon—seen as a quadratic voltage transverse to an applied electric field—that induces frequency doubling and occurs in non-centrosymmetric crystals with large Berry curvature. Optoelectronic devices based on this effect are limited because it typically appears at low temperatures and in complex compounds characterized by Dirac or Weyl electrons. Here we report a room-temperature nonlinear Hall effect in polycrystalline thin films of the centrosymmetric elemental material bismuth. The electrons at the (111) surface possess a Berry curvature triple that activates side jumps and skew scatterings, which generate nonlinear transverse currents. We show that the zero-field nonlinear transverse voltage can be boosted in arc-shaped bismuth stripes due to an extrinsic geometric classical counterpart of the nonlinear Hall effect. The electrical frequency doubling in curved geometries can be extended to optical second-harmonic generation in the terahertz spectral range. We also demonstrate efficient third-harmonic generation in polycrystalline bismuth films and bismuth-based heterostructures across a broad range of terahertz frequencies.
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All data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
We thank C. Schubert (HZDR) for support with thin film deposition, L. Baraban (HZDR) for providing access to the measurement equipment for harmonic analysis and O. Hellwig (HZDR, TU Chemnitz) for providing access to the XRD tool. This research was carried out in part at the Ion Beam Center and ELBE large-scale facilities at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V., member of the Helmholtz Association. We acknowledge the support of the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V., member of the European Magnetic Field Laboratory (EMFL). This work is financed in part via the German Research Foundation (DFG) under Grant Numbers MA 5144/22-1, MA 5144/24-1 and MA 5144/33-1, and European Commission HORIZON RIA (project REGO; ID: 101070066).
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C.O. and D.M. developed the project idea. P.M. prepared samples and performed magnetotransport characterization with support from Y.Z., T.K. and D.M. S.K., I.I., A.P., A.A., G.L.P., T.O. and J.-C.D. performed THz studies. P.C. carried out electron microscopy measurements. F.G. performed XRD measurements with support from I.V. C.O. developed the theoretical description of the transport effects in Bi thin films. Y.S. carried out high-field magnetoresistance measurements with the support from I.V. The paper was written by C.O., P.M. and D.M. with contribution from S.K., T.K., I.I., A.P., P.C., Y.Z., I.V., Y.S., F.G., A.A., G.L.P., T.O. and J.-C.D.
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Makushko, P., Kovalev, S., Zabila, Y. et al. A tunable room-temperature nonlinear Hall effect in elemental bismuth thin films. Nat Electron 7, 207–215 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01118-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01118-y
