About four years ago, the possibility to isolate and investigate graphene, i.e. individual layers of graphite only one-atom-thick, have been demonstrated. Further, experiments were reported showing that charge carriers in graphene behave as two-dimensional relativistic particles. In the past, the study of relativistic particles has been the exclusive domain of high-energy physics. In graphene, the physics of relativistic electrons is now experimentally accessible in solid-state devices, whose behavior differs drastically from that of similar devices fabricated with common semiconductors. As a consequence, new unexpected phenomena have been observed, and phenomena that are well understood in common semiconductors –such as the quantum Hall effect or weak-localization- exhibit surprising differences in graphene. Thus, graphene devices enable the study of relativistic dynamics in controllable nano-electronic circuits ('relativistic electrons on-a-chip') and their behavior questions our most basic understanding of electronic processes in solids. It allows also to simulate in soild-state experiments some subtle and previously unreachable effects from high-energy physics, such as Klein tunneling and vacuum breakdown. At the same time, graphene is considered as a perspective material for 'post-silicon electronics', and the first graphene transistors were already created and studied. Being both transparent and highly conducting, graphene has a very high potential for use in optical devices. Chemical, mechanical and other properties of graphene also open new ways for numerous important applications. It is not surprising therefore than graphene became one of the hottest subjects in contemporary physics and materials science and the number of publications in the field, including top-level scientific journals, as well as the number of researchers involved, grew exponentially.

The purpose of the workshop in Benasque is to bring together leading experts in the field, including experiment, theory, and applications, and to discuss fundamentals and perspectives of this rapidly growing branch of science.

This is a preliminary list of confirmed participants:

Organizers:
Francisco Guinea López, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, CSIC.
Mikhail Katsnelson, Department of Theoretical Physics, RU Nijmegen.
Maria Ángeles H. Vozmediano, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, CSIC.

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