Electronic superlattices in corrugated graphene

TL;DR

This paper theoretically explores how corrugations in graphene create superlattice effects, significantly influencing electron transport and enabling potential applications in graphene-based electronic devices.

Contribution

It introduces a model showing how geometric corrugations induce superlattice band structures in graphene ribbons, affecting electron transport and enabling new device functionalities.

Findings

Corrugation induces a superlattice band structure in graphene.

Strong current switching occurs with applied backgate voltage.

Corrugated graphene can serve as a platform for Dirac fermion studies.

Abstract

We theoretically investigate electron transport through corrugated graphene ribbons and show how the ribbon curvature leads to an electronic superlattice with a period set by the corrugation wave length. Transport through the ribbon depends sensitively on the superlattice band structure which, in turn, strongly depends on the geometry of the deformed sheet. In particular, we find that for ribbon widths where the transverse level separation is comparable to the the band edge energy, a strong current switching occurs as function of an applied backgate voltage. Thus, artificially corrugated graphene sheets or ribbons can be used for the study of Dirac fermions in periodic potentials. Furthermore, this provides an additional design paradigm for graphene-based electronics.