Physicists in Spain and the UK have calculated that graphene – a layer of carbon just one atom thick – could be used to create a perfect absorber of light if it is doped and patterned into a periodic array. The work could lead to improved light-detection devices, particularly in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum, where current technologies struggle to function.
The claim is extraordinary because conventional materials normally need to be thousands of atoms thick to absorb light completely. "The prediction that a material layer only one atom thick can completely absorb light is remarkable and exciting," says team leader F Javier García de Abajo of the Institute of Optics in Madrid.
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