World's thinnest Christmas tree made by researchers

Researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have made the world's thinnest Christmas tree using graphene.

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The Christmas tree measures only one-third of a nanometer thick and 14 centimeters long. It is made of graphene, consisting of a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms. The tree was cut out of a 10-meter long roll of graphene and transferred in one piece, demonstrating the capability for continuous quality control in graphene production.

"Behind the Christmas joke hides an important breakthrough. For the first time, we managed to make an in-line quality control of the graphene layer while we transferred it. Doing this is the key to gaining stable, reproducible, and usable material properties, which is the prerequisite for utilizing graphene in, e.g., electronic circuits," said Professor Peter Boggild, the team leader for the experiment

Using terahertz radiation (high-frequency radio waves), the team could control the electrical quality of graphene to ensure a stable transfer from the copper roll on which it is "grown." The colored images above show how the graphene absorbed the terahertz radiation, where better absorption indicates more electrically conductive graphene.

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This video posted by the researchers gives a rundown of the transfer and terahertz measurement processes.