Mesoscale Crystallographic Helicity in Confined Tellurium Quantum Wires
Abstract
Helical order can facilitate symmetry breaking and emergent physical responses in crystalline materials, yet how intrinsic chirality manifests beyond atomic length scales remains poorly understood. Here, the direct observation and quantitative characterization of long-range crystallographic helicity in template-grown tellurium (Te) quantum wires on amorphous substrates are reported. Four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) enables quantitative mapping of crystallographic orientation with nanometer-scale spatial resolution. The resulting orientation maps establish continuous mesoscale lattice twisting, providing direct evidence of long-range crystallographic helicity. Correlated orientation and strain mapping reveal pronounced lateral strain heterogeneity, with compressive strain concentrated within the wire interior. Systematic analysis across multiple wires suggests that higher twist rates are generally associated with weaker lateral compressive strain, narrower wires, and better atomic chain - template axis alignment. Complementary first-principles calculations on finite Te nanorods further suggest that twisting is intrinsically accessible in nucleus-scale Te clusters and strain can bias the preferred torsional state. Together, these results support a growth-incorporated, strain-biased picture in which nanoscale confinement and anisotropic strain facilitate torsional relaxation and stabilize mesoscale helicity in Te nanostructures highlighting strain and confinement as potential routes for engineering chiral lattice states in van der Waals nanostructures.
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BibTeX
@misc{jamal2026mesoscale,
title = {{Mesoscale Crystallographic Helicity in Confined Tellurium Quantum Wires}},
author = {Moniruzzaman Jamal and I K M Reaz Rahman and Ke Ma and Juhyeok Lee and Karen C. Bustillo and Mark Asta and Matthew P. Sherburne and Daryl C. Chrzan and Ali Javey and Mary Scott},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.13034},
eprint = {2609.13034},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.13034},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Mesoscale Crystallographic Helicity in Confined Tellurium Quantum Wires
AU - Moniruzzaman Jamal
AU - I K M Reaz Rahman
AU - Ke Ma
AU - Juhyeok Lee
AU - Karen C. Bustillo
AU - Mark Asta
AU - Matthew P. Sherburne
AU - Daryl C. Chrzan
AU - Ali Javey
AU - Mary Scott
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.13034
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.13034
AB - Helical order can facilitate symmetry breaking and emergent physical responses in crystalline materials, yet how intrinsic chirality manifests beyond atomic length scales remains poorly understood. Here, the direct observation and quantitative characterization of long-range crystallographic helicity in template-grown tellurium (Te) quantum wires on amorphous substrates are reported. Four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) enables quantitative mapping of crystallographic orientation with nanometer-scale spatial resolution. The resulting orientation maps establish continuous mesoscale lattice twisting, providing direct evidence of long-range crystallographic helicity. Correlated orientation and strain mapping reveal pronounced lateral strain heterogeneity, with compressive strain concentrated within the wire interior. Systematic analysis across multiple wires suggests that higher twist rates are generally associated with weaker lateral compressive strain, narrower wires, and better atomic chain - template axis alignment. Complementary first-principles calculations on finite Te nanorods further suggest that twisting is intrinsically accessible in nucleus-scale Te clusters and strain can bias the preferred torsional state. Together, these results support a growth-incorporated, strain-biased picture in which nanoscale confinement and anisotropic strain facilitate torsional relaxation and stabilize mesoscale helicity in Te nanostructures highlighting strain and confinement as potential routes for engineering chiral lattice states in van der Waals nanostructures.
ER -