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This corrects the article DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.067405.

Atomically thin graphene exhibits fascinating mechanical properties, although its hardness and transverse stiffness are inferior to those of diamond. So far, there has been no practical demonstration of the transformation of multilayer graphene into diamond-like ultrahard structures. Here we show that at room temperature and after nano-indentation, two-layer graphene on SiC(0001) exhibits a transverse stiffness and hardness comparable to diamond, is resistant to perforation with a diamond indenter and shows a reversible drop in electrical conductivity upon indentation. Density functional theory calculations suggest that, upon compression, the two-layer graphene film transforms into a diamond-like film, producing both elastic deformations and sp 2 to sp 3 chemical changes. Experiments and calculations show that this reversible phase change is not observed for a single buffer layer on SiC or graphene films thicker than three to five layers. Indeed, calculations show that whereas in two-layer graphene layer-stacking configuration controls the conformation of the diamond-like film, in a multilayer film it hinders the phase transformation.

Recent pump-probe experiments performed on graphene in a perpendicular magnetic field have revealed carrier relaxation times ranging from picoseconds to nanoseconds depending on the quality of the sample. To explain this surprising behavior, we propose a novel symmetry-breaking defect-assisted relaxation channel. This enables scattering of electrons with single out-of-plane phonons, which drastically accelerate the carrier scattering time in low-quality samples. The gained insights provide a strategy for tuning the carrier relaxation time in graphene and related materials by orders of magnitude.

For Landau-quantized graphene, featuring an energy spectrum consisting of nonequidistant Landau levels, theory predicts a giant resonantly enhanced optical nonlinearity. We verify the nonlinearity in a time-integrated degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) experiment in the mid-infrared spectral range, involving the Landau levels LL -1 , LL 0 and LL 1 . A rapid dephasing of the optically induced microscopic polarization on a time scale shorter than the pulse duration (∼4 ps) is observed, while a complementary pump-probe experiment under the same experimental conditions reveals a much longer lifetime of the induced population. The FWM signal shows the expected field dependence with respect to lowest order perturbation theory for low fields. Saturation sets in for fields above ∼6 kV/cm. Furthermore, the resonant behavior and the order of magnitude of the third-order susceptibility are in agreement with our theoretical calculations.

We present a pump-probe experiment on graphene, which reveals a pronounced dependence of the pump-induced transmission on the angle between pump and probe polarization. It reflects a strong anisotropy of the pump-induced occupation of photogenerated carriers in momentum space. Within 150 fs after excitation, an isotropic carrier distribution is established. The experiments are well described by microscopic modeling, which identifies carrier-phonon scattering to be the main relaxation mechanism giving rise to an isotropic carrier distribution.

Electronic carriers in graphene show a high carrier mobility at room temperature. Thus, this system is widely viewed as a potential future charge-based high-speed electronic material to complement-or replace-silicon. At the same time, the spin properties of graphene have suggested improved capability for spin-based electronics or spintronics and spin-based quantum computing. As a result, the detection, characterization and transport of spin have become topics of interest in graphene. Here we report a microwave photo-excited transport study of monolayer and trilayer graphene that reveals an unexpectedly strong microwave-induced electrical response and dual microwave-induced resonances in the dc resistance. The results suggest the resistive detection of spin resonance, and provide a measurement of the g-factor, the spin relaxation time and the sub-lattice degeneracy splitting at zero magnetic field.

The reduced form of graphene oxide (GO) is an attractive alternative to graphene for producing large-scale flexible conductors and for creating devices that require an electronic gap. We report on a means to tune the topographical and electrical properties of reduced GO (rGO) with nanoscopic resolution by local thermal reduction of GO with a heated atomic force microscope tip. The rGO regions are up to four orders of magnitude more conductive than pristine GO. No sign of tip wear or sample tearing was observed. Variably conductive nanoribbons with dimensions down to 12 nanometers could be produced in oxidized epitaxial graphene films in a single step that is clean, rapid, and reliable.

Magnetic moments of Co(N)Mn(M) and Co(N)V(M) clusters (N < or = 60; M < or = N/3) are measured in molecular beams using the Stern-Gerlach deflection method. Surprisingly, the per atom average moments of Co(N)Mn(M) clusters are found to increase with Mn concentration, in contrast to bulk CoMn. The enhancement with Mn doping is found to be independent of cluster size and composition in the size range studied. Meanwhile, Co(N)V(M) clusters show reduction of average moments with increasing V doping, consistent with what is expected in bulk CoV. The results are discussed within the virtual bound states model.