Electric control of tunneling energy in graphene double dots

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the spectrum of a single electron double quantum dot, defined by top gates in a graphene with a substrate-induced gap. We examine the effects of electric and magnetic fields on the spectrum of localized states, focusing on the tunability of the interdot coupling. We find that the substrate-induced gap allows for electrostatic control, with some limitations that for a fixed interdot distance, the interdot coupling cannot be made arbitrarily small due to the Klein tunneling. On the other hand, the proximity of the valence band in graphene allows for new regimes, such as an $npn$ double dot, which have no counterparts in GaAs.