Light Waves Reveal the Edges of Graphene
A short flash of light hits a graphene sheet, and at the point of impact, an energy gap momentarily opens, as if a pocket were cut into a continuous fabric.
Light Makes Electrons Dance in Pairs
In a dark room, an infrared laser flashes, and a speck of black K3C60 powder conducts electricity without resistance for a split second. The light strikes at 10 terahertz — a thousand times faster than a microwave oven. The effect is a hundred times stronger than at other frequencies. Why this particular frequency?
Terahertz resonator strengthens superconductivity
A thin film of yttrium barium copper oxide warms under a stream of infrared light, and suddenly stops dissipating energy. That's superconductivity: electrons pair up and move as a single quantum swarm. But in underdoped samples, the harmony breaks long before the pairs fall apart. The pairs are there, but the collective rhythm isn't.