Graphene consists of just one layer of carbon atoms and exhibits remarkable properties, including its ability to conduct electricity extremely well.
Now an international research team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has added another facet to its diverse properties: Using established semiconductor techniques, the experts, led by the University of Duisburg-Essen, deposited thousands of tiny, micrometer-sized slices of graphene on a small chip. They then bombarded them with short circularly polarized terahertz flashes, which briefly turned the graphene discs into surprisingly strong magnets. The free-electron laser FELBE was used at the HZDR for this purpose.
The magnetic fields obtained were in the range of 0.5 Tesla, but the magnetic pulses were only about ten picoseconds long. As they are generated by ultra-short flashes of radiation, the graphene disks could carry out extremely fast and precise magnetic switching processes. The discovery could therefore be useful for the development of future magnetic switches and memories, among other things.
