Graphene: The Magic of Flat Carbon

Abstract

Graphene is the first example of a truly two-dimensional crystal. This opens many interesting directions of research concerning the thermodynamics, lattice dynamics, and structural properties of such systems. Being a gapless semiconductor with a linear energy spectrum, single-layer graphene realizes a two-dimensional, massless Dirac fermion system that is of crucial importance for understanding unusual electronic properties, such as an anomalous QHE, absence of the Anderson localization, etc. These peculiarities are important for developing new electronic devices such as carbon transistors. Recent developments in production of large quantities of graphene, as well as the possibility of its chemical modification make such developments very feasible.