Berkeley Lab Researchers Discover 1D Conducting Channels in
Bilayer Graphene
(May 6, 2015) To the
list of potential applications of graphene – a two-dimensional semiconductor of
pure carbon that is stronger and much faster than silicon – we can now add
valleytronics, the coding of data in the wavelike motion of electrons as they
speed through a conductor. Berkeley Lab researchers have discovered
topologically protected one-dimensional electron conducting channels at the
domain walls of bilayer graphene. These conducting channels are “valley
polarized,” which means they can serve as filters for electron valley
polarization in future devices such as quantum computers.