Harnessing light-powered nanoscale electrical currents to propel emerging technologies

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory are developing nanometer-scale light-based systems that could deliver breakthroughs for ultrafast microelectronics and night vision capabilities. The scientists have designed and fabricated asymmetric, nano-sized gold structures on an atomically thin layer of graphene. The gold structures, called nanoantennas, capture and focus light waves, forming optical "hot spots" that excite the electrons within the graphene. The hot spots are located only at the sharp tips of the nanoantennas, leading to a pathway on which the excited hot electrons flow.