Two-dimensional transition metal tellurides (2D-TMTs) offer a uniquely rich playground for correlated quantum matter. Compared with their lighter chalcogenides homologues, the diffuse character of Te 5p orbitals promotes stronger interlayer coupling, enhanced metal-to-chalcogen charge transfer and intermediate-to-strong spin-orbit interaction, stabilizing a wealth of metastable polymorphs with relative low energies. This energy landscape enables phase engineering, by tuning the growth parameters, different polymorphs can be selectively stabilized at the monolayer regime, each hosting distinct correlated ground states. In the last years, we examine how molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on decoupling substrates, combined with surface science techniques (STM/STS, nc-AFM, ARPES, XMCD) and first-principles calculations, has uncovered charge density waves, excitonic insulator signatures, topological phases, and emergent magnetism across the telluride family (M = Mo, W, Nb, Ta, Ir, Pt, Mn).

Intercalation of heavy elements into graphene grown on Ir(111) induces strong spin-orbit coupling and creates tunable platforms for topological effects. Recently, we have demonstrated that Te intercalation in Gr/Ir(111) provides a promising platform for tailoring spin-orbit coupling properties, including the possibility of opening a bandgap and realizing spin-dependent transport phenomena, such as the quantum spin Hall effect. Using STM/STS, we map the band structure renormalization, and the emergence of spin-polarized edge states across the Te-functionalized interface. By combining STM with ARPES, we access both real-space electronic structure at atomic scale and momentum-resolved band topology, visualizing edge state signatures and their spatial distribution at domain boundaries and defects. These results establish Te-intercalated graphene as a tunable platform for engineering topological transport in initially non-topological 2D systems.