Sandia research Xinjian Shou measures the electronic and optical properties of carbon nanotube devices in a probe station.

Research at SNL have created the first carbon nanotube device that can detect the entire visible spectrum of light, a feat that could soon allow scientists to probe single molecule transformations, study how those molecules respond to light, observe how the molecule change shapes and understand other fundamental interactions between molecules and nanotubes. The research could be used for a number of applications, such as an optical detector with nanometer scale resolution, ultra -tiny digital cameras, solar cells with more light absorption capability, or even genome sequencing.