Current flow in biased bilayer graphene: the role of sublattices

Abstract

We investigate here how the current flows over a bilayer graphene in the presence of an external electric field perpendicularly applied (biased bilayer). Charge density polarization between layers in these systems is known to create a layer pseudospin, which can be manipulated by the electric field. Our results show that current does not necessarily flow over regions of the system with higher charge density. Charge can be predominantly concentrated over one layer, while current flows over the other layer. We find that this phenomenon occurs when the charge density becomes highly concentrated over only one of the sublattices, as the electric field breaks layer and sublattice symmetries for a Bernal-stacked bilayer. For bilayer nanoribbons, the situation is even more complex, with a competition between edge and bulk effects for the definition of the current flow. We show that, in spite of not flowing trough the layer where charge is polarized to, the current in these systems also defines a controllable layer pseudospin.

9 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (20)

• The electronic properties of graphene
• Biased bilayer graphene: semiconductor with a gap tunable by electric field effect
• Valley filter and valley valve in graphene
• Asymmetry gap in the electronic band structure of bilayer graphene
• Graphene field-effect-transistors with high on/off current ratio and large transport band gap at room temperature
• The electronic properties of bilayer graphene
• Graphene valley filter using a line defect
• Edge states in Graphene: from gapped flat band to gapless chiral modes
• Conductance quantization and transport gap in disordered graphene nanoribbons
• Electronic properties of bilayer and multilayer graphene
• Transport in Bilayer Graphene: Calculations within a self-consistent Born approximation
• Electronic Highways in Bilayer Graphene
• Pseudospin valve in bilayer graphene: towards graphene-based pseudospintronics
• Stabilization mechanism of edge states in graphene
• Localized states at zigzag edges of bilayer graphene
• Spatial distribution of local currents of massless Dirac fermions in quantum transport through graphene nanoribbons
• Valley polarization effects on the localization in graphene Landau levels
• Theory of the Pseudospin Resonance in Semiconductor Bilayers
• Edge states of zigzag bilayer graphite nanoribbons
• Disorder induced field effect transistor in bilayer and trilayer graphene

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Graphene on graphene antidot lattices: Electronic and transport properties
• Polar coherent states in bilayer graphene under a constant uniform magnetic field
• Structural dependence of quantum transport properties on topological nodal-line semimetal bilayer borophene