Resonant peak splitting in graphene superlattices with one-dimensional periodic potentials

Abstract

We have investigated theoretically the resonant tunneling phenomenon of Dirac electrons through graphene superlattices with periodic potentials of square barriers. It is found that there are two resonance conditions for the graphene superlattices. Some of the resonance transmission peaks present N – 1-fold resonance splitting for \( N{\text{-barriers}} \), which is the analogy of the resonance splitting in semiconductor superlattices. The resonance splitting effect depends on the incidence angle rather than the height and width of the potential. However, there is no explicit splitting rule for the conductance and shot noise, which is different from the magnetic case. Furthermore, the resonant splitting rule of the transmission is not sensitive to the shape of the potential barrier. These properties in graphene superlattices may lead to potential applications in graphene-based electron devices.