Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Controlling how fast graphene cools down An international study, published in ACS Nano, has demonstrated an unprecedented level of control of the optical properties of graphene. The work has promising applications in different technological fields ranging from photonics to teleco

Graphene is the thinnest material ever produced, with the thickness of a single atomic layer, thinner than a billionth of a meter, it is able to efficiently absorb light from the visible to the infrared through the photoexcitation of its charge carriers. After light absorption, its photoexcited charge carriers cool down to the initial equilibrium state in a few picoseconds, corresponding to a millionth of a millionth of a second. The remarkable speed of this relaxation process makes graphene particularly promising for a number of technological applications, including light detectors, sources and modulators.