The world's thinnest material helps speed up the Internet

Two British Nobel laureates have come up with a new way to use graphene - the thinnest material in the world - making the Internet 'pipeline' much more widely available.

>>>Breakthrough research on graphene material

Professors Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov of Manchester University (UK) - who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on graphene - wrote in Nature Communications about the method of combining materials based on carbon with metal nanostructures for use as photodetectors.

This combination can greatly increase the amount of light that optical communication devices can handle. Progress in acquiring graphene light and converting it into electrical energy can lead to communication speeds that are tens or even hundreds of times faster than today, the researchers said.

In a statement Novoselov said: "The technology for producing graphene matures day by day, the immediate impact of both the kind of stimulating physics we see in this material, and the feasibility and scope of Possible applications Many leading electronics companies are looking at graphene for next-generation devices, which definitely increase the chances of graphene even more.

Cambridge University researchers have collaborated with Manchester University researchers on the work of graphene.

Many leading technology manufacturers (including IBM) have invested heavily in graphene-based technologies. Earlier this summer, Big Blue claimed to have built the first graphene-based integrated circuit. Earlier this year, IBM demonstrated their 155GHz graphene transistor - the fastest transistor.