Research from the American Oak Ridge lab has a possible new area of application of graphene produced. Impurities in the material would graphene has a function as an antenna for optical signals.
Where pure graphene consists of a framework of carbon atoms that a ‘two-dimensional kippengaasstructuur’ forms, are often contaminants that the most interesting properties of graphene pose. Provide metal atoms for the electrical conductivity in graphene, which makes the material suitable as a semiconductor. Researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States were using silicon atoms as a polluting element. The graphene was found therefore the antenna can be used.
The silicon strengthens the plasmonische response in the graphene, allowing incident light was converted to an electrical signal. The electrical signal can be transported via the same siliciumverontreiningen be teruggeconverteerd to an optical signal. To the phenomenon of where to take the researchers of electron microscopy.
Plasmonen are already known and oppervlakteplasmonen are more often used in optics, such as lasers and sensors. Such structures, however, were not realized with dimensions down to few nanometers, but the research in Oak Ridge appears to be a single atom enough to plasmonische effects. The technique could in the future application can be found in optical communications.
