Graphene has created high expectations, as a strong, ultrathin, two-dimensional material that could also be the basis for new components in information technology. There is hence a huge need for characterization of graphene devices. This can be done using Raman spectroscopy. Laser light is sent to the material sample, and scattered photons tell us about the rotations and vibrations of the molecules inside, and thus about the crystal structure. On average, only around 1 in 10 million photons is scattered in this way. This not only makes it hard to detect the right information, it is also very slow: it may take half a second to image one single pixel. The question is whether Raman still remains the best option, or if there are better alternatives. Researchers Sachin Nair and Jun Gao keep Raman spectroscopy as a starting point, but manage to improve the speed drastically: not by changing the technique itself, but by adding an algorithm.
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Source: Phys.org