Researchers at the National Graphene Institute, have produced the cleanest graphene yet, allowing quantum phenomena to appear in magnetic fields as weak as the Earth’s own.
The breakthrough, reported in Nature by a team led by Professor Andre Geim, was achieved by placing a sheet of graphene just three atoms below cleaner bulk graphite. This “proximity mirror” cancels out unwanted electric fields, reducing disorder in graphene by a factor of 100.
"Think of it like creating the ultimate clean room, but for electrons," explains first author Dr Daniil Domaretskiy. "We’ve removed almost all the ‘dirt’ that disrupts smooth flow of electric current. You can suddenly see effects that were hidden, like wiping clean a fogged-up window."
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