Graphene: a physicist's view of the wonder material |
| TYPE | Colloquium |
| Speaker: | Prof. Eva Andrei |
| Affiliation: | Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway NJ |
| Date: | 30.12.2013 |
| Time: | 14:30 |
| Location: | Lidow Rosen Auditorium (323) |
| Abstract: | Within the short time since its first scotch-tape extraction from graphite, Graphene a one atom-thick crystal of carbon - has metamorphosed from the poor relative of diamond into a wonder material. By now it has amassed an impressive string of superlatives lightest, thinnest, strongest material, best electrical and thermal conductor - as well as the 2010 Nobel Prize for its discoverers. These properties carry the promise of extraordinary potential applications which have attracted interest from diverse sectors including electronics, communications, aeronautics, pharmaceuticals and computing. For physicists Graphene has opened an arena of new physics arising from its exotic charge carriers - massless Dirac fermions - that resemble two dimensional neutrinos. I will review the story and physics of graphene with emphasis on its unusual electronic properties and will describe scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy experiments which provided access to the two-dimensional world of Dirac fermions, their interactions with each other and with the environment. |