Bringing Graphene into the Undergraduate Lab

van der Waals materials can be peeled into flakes as thin as one atomic layer with nothing more than tape. Nearly twenty years since graphene's isolation from bulk graphite, these ultra-thin materials are increasingly finding application in research and industry. We present an undergraduate laboratory experiment to introduce these materials. The procedure enables students to create and study matter at atomic thicknesses with minimal equipment by mechanically exfoliating few-layer graphene and examining it under different wavelengths of light. This experiment may fit optics, advanced laboratory, or scientific instrumentation courses and can be made appropriate for introductory physics classes that cover thin film optics.