Analytic solution to pseudo-Landau levels in strongly bent graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

Nonuniform elastic strain is known to induce pseudo-Landau levels in Dirac materials. But these pseudo-Landau levels are hardly resolvable in an analytic fashion when the strain is strong because of the emerging complicated space dependence in both the strain-modulated Fermi velocity and the strain-induced pseudomagnetic field. We here analytically characterize the solution to the pseudo-Landau levels in strongly bent graphene nanoribbons by treating the effects of the nonuniform Fermi velocity and pseudomagnetic field on equal footing. The analytic solution is detectable through angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and allows quantitative comparison between theories and various experimental signatures of transport, such as the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillation in the complete absence of magnetic fields and the negative strain-resistivity resulting from the valley anomaly. The analytic solution can be generalized to various Dirac materials and will shed light on the related experimental explorations and straintronics applications.