• 文献标题:   Common-path interference and oscillatory Zener tunneling in bilayer graphene p-n junctions
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   NANDKISHORE R, LEVITOV L
  • 作者关键词:   graphene heterojunction, nanodevice, quantum transport, quartic dispersion, quasiclassical approximation
  • 出版物名称:   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
  • ISSN:   0027-8424
  • 通讯作者地址:   MIT
  • 被引频次:   33
  • DOI:   10.1073/pnas.1101352108
  • 出版年:   2011

▎ 摘  要

Interference and tunneling are two signature quantum effects that are often perceived as the yin and yang of quantum mechanics: a particle simultaneously propagating along several distinct classical paths versus a particle penetrating through a classically inaccessible region via a single least-action path. Here we demonstrate that the Dirac quasiparticles in graphene provide a dramatic departure from this paradigm. We show that Zener tunneling in gapped bilayer graphene, which governs transport through p-n heterojunctions, exhibits common-path interference that takes place under the tunnel barrier. Due to a symmetry peculiar to the gapped bilayer graphene bandstructure, interfering tunneling paths form conjugate pairs, giving rise to high-contrast oscillations in transmission as a function of the gate-tunable bandgap and other control parameters of the junction. The common-path interference is solely due to forward-propagating waves; in contrast to Fabry-Perot-type interference in resonant-tunneling structures, it does not rely on multiple backscattering. The oscillations manifest themselves in the junction I-V characteristic as N-shaped branches with negative differential conductivity. The negative dI/dV, which arises solely due to under-barrier interference, can enable new high-speed active-circuit devices with architectures that are not available in electronic semiconductor devices.