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MIT physicists turn pencil lead into “gold”

MIT physicists have metaphorically turned graphite, or pencil lead, into gold by isolating five ultrathin flakes stacked in a specific order. The resulting material can then be tuned to exhibit three important properties never before seen in natural graphite. “It is...

Energy-harvesting design aims to turn high-frequency electromagnetic waves into usable power

Note: This story was updated on Dec. 18 to clarify that Wi-Fi signals are in the microwave frequency range, not terahertz, as originally reported. The device described in the article would convert energy in a range of electromagnetic frequencies, including terahertz...

Pablo Jarillo-Herrero delivers 2022 Dresselhaus Lecture on the magic of moiré quantum matter

“We have barely scratched the surface of the moiré quantum matter universe,” said Pablo Jarillo-Herrero at the 2022 Mildred S. Dresselhaus Lecture. The Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at MIT, Jarillo-Herrero is at the forefront of the scientific exploration...
In nanotube science, is boron nitride the new carbon?

In nanotube science, is boron nitride the new carbon?

Engineers at MIT and the University of Tokyo have produced centimeter-scale structures, large enough for the eye to see, that are packed with hundreds of billions of hollow aligned fibers, or nanotubes, made from hexagonal boron nitride. Hexagonal boron nitride, or...

Seven with MIT ties receive awards from the American Physical Society

The American Physical Society (APS) recently honored a number of individuals with ties to MIT with prizes and awards for their contributions to physics. They include: Institute Professor Arup Chakraborty; associate professors Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz and Lina...

Physicists discover a “family” of robust, superconducting graphene structures

When it comes to graphene, it appears that superconductivity runs in the family. Graphene is a single-atom-thin material that can be exfoliated from the same graphite that is found in pencil lead. The ultrathin material is made entirely from carbon atoms that are...