Graphene
Graphene is a new form of carbon with unrivalled potential and some very strange physics indeed. It is now shaping up to take over from silicon. Find out how this 21st-century material is winning hearts, minds and Nobel prizes.
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Florida scientists boost graphene's solar ambitions
Researchers in Florida have developed a doped form of graphene that makes graphene solar cells much more efficient. In an article in NanoLetters they report a power efficiency of 9 per cent, compared to 1.
Supercharged silicon superposition smashes records
Superposition, the weird quantum state of existing in two places at once, is a notoriously unstable condition. But now a team of scientists at Oxford University, Simon Frase University and Berlin University report that they have managed to coax a the spins of ultra-pure silicon’s atomic nuclei to remain superpositioned for an astonishing three minutes and 12 seconds.
Graphene finds work as rust-proof coating
While researchers hoping to make graphene a serious contender to silicon’s electronic throne have some work still ahead of them, the material is finding more immediate application in other industrial areas.(This is probably the materials science version of waiting tables while auditioning for film roles in your spare time.
Hydrogen could be key to logic for graphene oxide
Researchers at Georgia Tech in the US have found that the availability of hydrogen might be the key to making graphene oxide behave well enough for use in nanoelectronics.It turns out that for more than a month after production, graphene oxide continues to interact with hydrogen, if it is available.
Samsung draws logic-worthy on/off ratio from graphene
Researchers at Samsung’s Advance Institute of Technology have developed a new transistor structure using everyone’s favourite two-dimensional material, Graphene.Despite its wonderful conductivity, electron mobility and so on that make it such an alluring prospect for chip designers bumping into the physical limits of silicon, it has no band gap.
Quantum dots boost graphene's photodetector dreams
Researchers working at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona have built a super-sensitive photodetector by combining graphene with semiconducting quantum dots that outperforms other graphene based devices by a billion times.Speaking to PhysicsWorld , lead researcher Gerasimos Konstantatos explains: “We managed to successfully combine graphene with semiconducting nanocrystals to create complete new functionalities in terms of light sensing and light conversion to electricity.
Protein plus graphene equals enzyme detecting paper
Earlier this year, a group of researchers grew their own circuitry using proteins found in milk, mucus and blood. In a similar vein, scientists in Switzerland have announced work on layering proteins with graphene to create a new kind of conductive paper.
Layered graphene bests ITO's transparent conductivity
Sandwiching Ferric Chloride between two layers of graphene results in the most flexible, transparent conductive material ever, according to scientists at Exeter University.In a paper in Advanced Materials, the scientists describe how the sandwiching improves graphene’s poor conductivity – relative to the current transparent conductor of choice in electronics: Indium Tin Oxide (ITO).
300 atom quantum simulator smashes qubit record
An international group of scientists, working with the National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST) in the US have built the world’s largest ever quantum simulator, smashing previous record for the number of qubits. The device, which has passed a series of benchmarking tests, could be used to simulate problems in quantum mechanics that would be utterly intractable for a conventional computer.
Bismuth films exhibit graphene-like behaviour
MIT researchers have identified a new material that shares many of graphene’s interesting properties. Writing in Nano Letters, the researchers describe how thin films of bismuth-antimony share a property with graphene called two-dimensional Dirac cones.
IBM demos tunable terahertz filters
Graphene has shown itself, once again, to be capable of great wonders, as IBM demonstrates a notch filter that operates in the terahertz – or infrared - range. The company also showed off a linear polariser using the same stacked material.
New photon qubit generator 1000x faster than rivals
Scientists in the US have demonstrated a new technique for generating photons for use in optical quantum information processing: using a laser to excite a single photon from a cloud of rubidium gas.The technique, developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology Research, exploits the properties of an atom in which one or more electrons has been excited near ionisation energy levels, the so-called Rydberg state.
First demo of quantum switching network claimed
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) are claiming a world first with a demonstration of a quantum switching network. The Institute reports data being exchanged successfully "with high efficiency and fidelity" between two quantum nodes installed in two separate labs, connected by a 60-metre long optical fibre.
Scientists build quantum computer in a diamond
Diamonds are forever in the movies, and now they are making a stab at eternity in quantum computing.An international group of scientists have built a working quantum computer inside a diamond, and for the first time, have included protection against decoherence.
Researchers generate flying qubits in semiconductors
Researchers at Ruhr-Universitat Bochum report the creation of electron qubits in semiconductors. So far, the team says, electron qubits have all been created in a vacuum, so this development really does look like a next step on the oft-mentioned road to quantum computing.