{"60861":{"#nid":"60861","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Instrument Reveals Quartet of Graphene Electron States","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EUsing a one-of-a-kind instrument designed and built at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), researchers have \u0022unveiled\u0022 a quartet of graphene\u0027s electron states and discovered that electrons in graphene can split up into an unexpected and tantalizing set of energy levels when exposed to extremely low temperatures and extremely high magnetic fields. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EReported Sept. 9 in the journal \u003Cem\u003ENature\u003C\/em\u003E, the new research raises several intriguing questions about the fundamental physics of this exciting material and reveals new effects that may make graphene even more powerful than previously expected for practical applications. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELed by NIST Fellow Joseph Stroscio, the research team included scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Maryland, Seoul National University, and the University of Texas at Austin. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGraphene is one of the simplest materials -- a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb-like lattice -- yet it has many remarkable and surprisingly complex properties. Measuring and understanding how electrons carry current through the sheet is a key to achieving its technological promise in wide-ranging applications, including high speed electronics and sensors. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, the electrons in graphene act as if they have no mass and are almost 100 times more mobile than in silicon. Moreover, the speed with which electrons move through graphene is not related to their energy, unlike materials such as silicon where more voltage must be applied to increase their speed, which creates heat that is detrimental to most applications. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo fully understand the behavior of graphene\u0027s electrons, scientists must study the material under an extreme environment of ultra-high vacuum, ultra-low temperatures, and large magnetic fields. Under these conditions, the graphene sheet remains pristine for weeks. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENIST has recently constructed the world\u2019s most powerful and stable scanning-probe microscope, with an unprecedented combination of low temperature (as low as 10 millikelvin, or 10 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero), ultra-high vacuum, and high magnetic field. In the first measurements made with this instrument, the international team has used its power to resolve the finest differences in the electron energies in graphene, atom-by-atom. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Going to this resolution allows you to see new physics,\u0022 said Young Jae Song, a postdoctoral researcher who helped develop the instrument at NIST and make these first measurements. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd the new physics the team saw raises a few more questions about how the electrons behave in graphene than it answers. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBecause of the geometry and electromagnetic properties of graphene\u0027s structure, an electron in any given energy level populates four possible sublevels, called a \u0022quartet.\u0022 Theorists have predicted that this quartet of levels would split into different energies when immersed in a magnetic field, but until recently there had not been an instrument sensitive enough to resolve these differences. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022When we increased the magnetic field at extreme low temperatures, we observed unexpectedly complex quantum behavior of the electrons,\u0022 said NIST Fellow Joseph Stroscio. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat is happening, according to Stroscio, appears to be a \u0022many-body effect\u0022 in which electrons interact strongly with one another in ways that affect their energy levels. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne possible explanation for this behavior is that the electrons have formed a \u0022condensate\u0022 in which they cease moving independently of one another and act as a single coordinated unit. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe new experiments also showed surprising stability in the quartet states, an issue that warrants further study, said Phillip First, a professor in Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Physics and one of the study\u0027s co-authors. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The experiment shows that these magnetic configurations become especially stable when any one of the quartet states is completely filled with electrons, which indicates the importance of many-body correlations,\u0022 he said. \u0022However, the most surprising thing is the observation of new stable states that occur when a quartet state is exactly half filled. That\u0027s pretty remarkable, and we still need an explanation.\u0022 \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGraphene has attracted strong interest as a potential material for future electronic devices, and this new work reinforces that expectation. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022If our hypothesis proves to be correct, it could point the way to the creation of smaller, very-low-heat producing, highly energy efficient electronic devices based upon graphene,\u0022 said Shaffique Adam, a postdoctoral researcher who assisted with theoretical analysis of the measurements. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to First, Georgia Tech researchers contributing to the paper included Walt de Heer, Yike Hu and David Torrance. The research was supported in part by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD)(KRF-2006-214-C00022), the National Science Foundation (DMR-0820382 [MRSEC], DMR-0804908, DMR-0606489), the Welch Foundation and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (NRI-INDEX program). \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003Cbr \/\u003EAtlanta, Georgia 30308 USA\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: Mark Esser, NIST, (301-975-8735)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:mark.esser@nist.gov\u0022\u003Emark.esser@nist.gov\u003C\/a\u003E) or John Toon, Georgia Tech, (404-894-6986)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E). \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Mark Esser \u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EUsing a one-of-a-kind instrument designed and built at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), researchers have \u0022unveiled\u0022 a quartet of graphene\u0027s electron states and discovered that electrons in graphene can split up into an unexpected and tantalizing set of energy levels when exposed to extremely low temperatures and extremely high magnetic fields.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Research yields new information on graphene\u0027s electron states."}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2010-09-07 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:07:23","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-09-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2010-09-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"60862":{"id":"60862","type":"image","title":"NIST scanning probe microscope","body":null,"created":"1449176296","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:58:16","changed":"1475894528","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:08","alt":"NIST scanning probe microscope","file":{"fid":"191227","name":"trm09953.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/trm09953_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/trm09953_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1261222,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/trm09953_0.jpg?itok=0h08uyMH"}}},"media_ids":["60862"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.mrsec.gatech.edu\/","title":"Materials Research Science and Engineering Center"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech School of Physics"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"10597","name":"electron state"},{"id":"10599","name":"energy level"},{"id":"429","name":"graphene"},{"id":"10598","name":"NIST"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}