MIT: Light Pulses Control Graphene’s Electrical Behavior

Researchers at MIT have developed a method of using light pulses to control the electrical properties of a sheet of graphene. Short light pulses were found to change and reveal graphene’s electrical response in only a trillionth of a second.

The discovery by graduate student Alex Frenzel, Nuh Gedik, and three others, could allow ultrafast switching of conduction, and possibly lead to new broadband light sensors.

The findings have now been published in the journal Physical Review Letters.  MIT also noted that the work received support from the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/light-pulses-control-graphene-electrical-behavior-0801

http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.055502