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Carbon atoms star in the latest action movie

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Graphene Hole

Led by Alex Zettl of the Materials Sciences Division, researchers at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have used the world’s most powerful transmission electron microscope, TEAM 0.5 at the National Center for Electron Microscopy, to make the first real-time movie of individual carbon atoms in motion. The atoms are seen repositioning themselves around the edge of a hole punched in a graphene sheet by the microscope’s focused electron beam. Chemical bonds break and form as the atoms seek a stable configuration. The discovery may revolutionize the emerging spintronics industry by suggesting a way to use graphene’s geometry to control and store electron spin.

[Paul Preuss, 510.486.6249 ,
paul_preuss@lbl.gov]