Generation of Multiple Dirac Cones in Graphene under Double-Periodic and Quasiperiodic Potentials

Abstract

We investigate generation of new Dirac cones in graphene under double-periodic and quasiperiodic superlattice potentials. We first show that double-periodic potentials generate the Dirac cones sporadically, following the Diophantine equation, in spite of the fact that double-periodic potentials are also periodic ones, for which previous studies predict consecutive appearance of the cones. The sporadic appearance is due to the fact that the dispersion relation of graphene is linear only up to an energy cutoff. We then show that quasiperiodic potentials generate the new Dirac cones densely with its density depending on the energy. We also extend the above predictions to other materials of Dirac electrons with different energy cutoffs of the linear dispersion.