Voltage-driven quantum oscillations in graphene

TL;DR

This paper predicts voltage-driven quantum oscillations in graphene caused by localized electron states within a potential barrier, leading to oscillations in conductivity and thermodynamic properties similar to SdH oscillations but driven by electric fields.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism for quantum oscillations in graphene induced by electric fields, differing from traditional magnetic-field-driven effects.

Findings

Localized electron states within graphene barriers exhibit singularities at certain energies.

Quantum oscillations in conductivity and thermodynamic properties occur as barrier parameters change.

Oscillations are analogous to SdH effects but driven by electric fields instead of magnetic fields.

Abstract

We predict unusual (for non-relativistic quantum mechanics) electron states in graphene, which are localized within a finite-width potential barrier. The density of localized states in the sufficiently high and/or wide graphene barrier exhibits a number of singularities at certain values of the energy. Such singularities provide quantum oscillations of both the transport (e.g., conductivity) and thermodynamic properties of graphene - when increasing the barrier height and/or width, similarly to the well-known Shubnikov-de-Haas (SdH) oscillations of conductivity in pure metals. However, here the SdH-like oscillations are driven by an electric field instead of the usual magnetically-driven SdH-oscillations.