Graphene's exceptional stability and conductivity already underpin ambitions for flexible displays, ultrasensitive sensors, high-capacity batteries, and advanced solar cells. The new study elevates those ambitions by showing that ultrafast light pulses can tailor graphene's electronic properties on demand, resolving a long-standing debate over whether such control extends to metals and semimetals.
The team used femtosecond momentum microscopy, exciting samples with rapid light flashes and probing them with a delayed pulse to track ultrafast dynamics in the photoemission spectrum. "Our measurements clearly prove that 'Floquet effects' occur in the photoemission spectrum of graphene," said Dr Marco Merboldt of the University of Goettingen. "This makes it clear that Floquet engineering actually works in these systems - and the potential of this discovery is huge."
Because the approach operates on ultrashort timescales, it points to on-the-fly control of quantum materials for future electronics, computing, and sensing. "Our results open up new ways of controlling electronic states in quantum materials with light. This could lead to technologies in which electrons are manipulated in a targeted and controlled manner," said Professor Marcel Reutzel, who led the work with Professor Stefan Mathias.
Reutzel added: "What is particularly exciting is that this also enables us to investigate topological properties. These are special, very stable properties which have great potential for developing reliable quantum computers or new sensors for the future."
Research Report:Observation of Floquet states in graphene
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