Understanding topological materials and their unique electromagnetic properties is an increasingly important study in condensed matter physics. This research investigates some of the elementary methods through which these materials can be analyzed in laboratory setups involving time-domain terahertz (THz) spectroscopy or other nonlinear optical procedures. This project design was twofold, covering both a mechanical method (mechanical exfoliation of a topological material) and an electro-optical method (construction of a balanced photodetector).

In the first part, three samples of manganese tantalum disulfide, a 2D ferromagnetic crystal, were mechanically exfoliated and studied under the microscope to identify suitably thin pieces for later experiment and imaging. This material's ferromagnetic properties, such as a nonpolar magneto-optic Kerr effect, would be likely observable using second-harmonic generation and circular dichroism in the THz setup.

In the second part, two balanced photodetectors were designed and constructed for future electro-optical sampling in the lab. Their simplified design without amplifiers allows them to be connected to lock-in amplifiers around the lab, and thus be more flexibly useful for different experiments involving THz pulse detection.

As elucidated by this project, the study of topological materials would be incomplete without both mechanical and electro-optical components of an experimental setup.