A Whole New Light on Graphene Metamaterials

Invisible terahertz light can detect explosives, image drug structures, and pinpoint skin cancer, but practical tools for using it are scarce. Now Berkeley Lab scientists have demonstrated a device made of graphene microribbons that strongly responds to terahertz light by exciting the collective electron oscillations known as plasmons. The device can be tuned with exquisite precision by varying the width of the graphene ribbons and controlling electron density.