Pseudomagnetic fields and ballistic transport in a suspended graphene sheet

TL;DR

This paper investigates how elastic deformation and resulting pseudomagnetic fields in a suspended graphene sheet affect its electronic transport, showing conductance suppression and the role of disorder in restoring conductivity.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the interplay between mechanical deformation and electronic transport in suspended graphene, highlighting the effects of pseudomagnetic fields on conductance.

Findings

Conductance is reduced below the ballistic limit in clean systems.

Tension suppresses conductance at low carrier concentrations.

Residual disorder restores finite conductivity.

Abstract

We study a suspended graphene sheet subject to the electric field of a gate underneath. We compute the elastic deformation of the sheet and the corresponding effective gauge field, which modifies the electronic transport. In a clean system the two-terminal conductance of the sample is reduced below the ballistic limit and is almost totally suppressed at low carrier concentrations in samples under tension. Residual disorder restores a small finite conductivity.