Spintronic terahertz metasurface emission characterized by scanning near-field nanoscopy

Understanding the ultrafast excitation, detection, transportation, and manipulation of nanoscale spin dynamics in the terahertz (THz) frequency range is critical to developing spintronic THz optoelectronic nanodevices. However, the diffraction limitation of the sub-millimeter waves – THz wavelengths – has impaired experimental investigation of spintronic THz nano-emission. Here, we present an approach to studying laser THz emission nanoscopy from W|CoFeB|Pt metasurfaces with ∼60-nm lateral spatial resolution. When comparing with statistic near-field THz time-domain spectroscopy with and without the heterostructures on fused silica substrates, we find that polarization- and phase-sensitive THz emission nanoscopy is more sensitive than the statistic THz scattering intensity nanoscopy. Our approach opens explorations of nanoscale ultrafast THz spintronic dynamics in optically excited metasurfaces.