Td-WTe₂ (non-centrosymmetric and orthorhombic), a type-II Weyl semimetal, is expected to have higher-order topological phases with topologically protected, helical one-dimensional hinge states when its Weyl points are annihilated. However, the detection of these hinge states is difficult due to the semimetallic behaviour of the bulk. In this study, we have spatially resolved the hinge states by analysing the magnetic field interference of the supercurrent in Nb–WTe₂–Nb proximity Josephson junctions. The Josephson current along the a axis of the WTe₂ crystal, but not along the b axis, showed a sharp enhancement at the edges of the junction, and the amount of enhanced Josephson current was comparable to the upper limits of a single one-dimensional helical channel. Our experimental observations suggest a higher-order topological phase in WTe₂ and its corresponding anisotropic topological hinge states, in agreement with theoretical calculations. Our work paves the way for the study of hinge states in topological transition-metal dichalcogenides and analogous phases.

II型Weyl半金属Td-WTe ₂（非对心对称和正交），有望在Weyl点消失时具有高阶拓扑结构，并具有受拓扑保护的螺旋一维铰链状态。但是，由于主体的半金属特性，很难检测到这些铰链状态。在这项研究中，我们通过分析Nb–WTe ₂ –Nb接近约瑟夫森结中超电流的磁场干扰在空间上解析了铰链状态。约瑟夫森电流沿WTe ₂晶体的a轴，但不沿b轴轴，在结的边缘处显示出急剧的增强，并且增强的约瑟夫森电流量可与单个一维螺旋形通道的上限相媲美。我们的实验观察表明，在WTe _2中具有较高阶的拓​​扑相及其相应的各向异性拓扑铰链状态，与理论计算相符。我们的工作为研究拓扑过渡金属二卤化物和类似相的铰链状态铺平了道路。