About this Talk
The future of electronics may lie within your pencil. Graphite (the “lead” in your pencil) is the most common solid form of carbon. Its crystal structure consists of atom-thick carbon sheets stacked like playing cards—ideal for writing and for lubricating sticky locks. But a single sheet by itself, known as graphene, has far more extraordinary properties. The two-dimensional honeycomb arrangement of carbon atoms in graphene can be considered the basic template from which springs other well-known carbon allotropes: graphite, nanotubes, and the soccer-ball shaped C60 or buckminsterfullerene. As for carbon nanotubes, scientists and engineers find the most exciting electrical properties of graphene to be its high electron mobility and long coherence times, which are essential to observe (or to use) the quantum-mechanical wave properties of electrons. I will discuss the unique “relativistic” aspects of electrons and “anti-electrons” in graphene, atom-resolved imaging and spectroscopy of this material, and the proposal by Georgia Tech physicists to create electronic devices by cutting graphene sheets into nanometer-scale shapes. Recent demonstrations of high-speed graphene transistors show that carbon electronics just may be something to write home about.

About Our Speaker
Phil First is a Professor of Physics at Georgia Tech, transplanted from the Big Ten where he obtained his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees (Univ. of Wisconsin/Univ. of Illinois). He has been a Yellowjacket since 1990, following a 2-year stint at the National Institute of Standards & Technology in Gaithersburg, MD. Professor First has been listening to—and occasionally creating—buzz about graphene since 2001.

For more information about Dr. First's research, please visit his Georgia Tech faculty webpage.