A Laser Steers Electrons Inside Graphene

Physicists use pulsed lasers to study and control the dynamics of electrons in materials. In 2017, Christian Heide of the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, and colleagues produced a signature current in graphene by aiming short laser pulses at the sample and causing individual electrons to interfere. In new work, they demonstrate an even higher level of control over the electrons’ trajectories by tuning the level of electron interference and quickly reversing the direction of the current in less than one femtosecond.