Trivial and topological bound states in bilayer graphene quantum dots and rings

TL;DR

This paper compares trivial and topological confinement in bilayer graphene quantum dots and rings, revealing distinct magnetic field dependencies and energy spectrum behaviors through explicit calculations.

Contribution

It introduces a method to distinguish trivial and topological bound states in bilayer graphene via magnetic field dependence analysis.

Findings

Trivial confinement shows Landau level bunching and a non-centered gap.

Topological confinement exhibits no field-induced gap and zero-energy crossings.

Explicit energy spectrum calculations support the qualitative differences.

Abstract

We discuss and compare two different types of confinement in bilayer graphene by top and bottom gating with symmetrical microelectrodes. Trivial confinement corresponds to the same polarity of all top gates, which is opposed to that of all bottom ones. Topological confinement requires the polarity of part of the top-bottom pairs of gates to be reversed. We show that the main qualitative difference between trivial and topological bound states manifests itself in the magnetic field dependence. We illustrate our finding with an explicit calculation of the energy spectrum for quantum dots and rings. Trivial confinement shows bunching of levels into degenerate Landau bands, with a non-centered gap, while topological confinement shows no field-induced gap and a sequence of state branches always crossing zero-energy.