The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a research grant to a Stevents Institute of Technology researcher to study the properties of graphene nanoribbons for use in infrared (IR) detection.
This funded research is to investigate the properties of actively controlled graphene nanoribbon arrays that researchers can "tune" for use in IR detectors covering an ultra-wide spectral range. In their awarded research, Dr. Yang and Dr. Strauf investigate nanoelectromechanical devices employing graphene nanoribbons to significantly improve IR detection schemes. Current IR detectors experience both limitations in their spectral range, for those that rely on the fixed IR absorption properties of detector materials, or their general sensitivities, in the case of tunable thermal detectors. The proposed concept offers the unique possibility of achieving high sensitivity across a wide spectral range with a single detection system.