Shot noise in a harmonically driven ballistic graphene transistor

Abstract

We study time-dependent electron transport and quantum noise in a ballistic graphene field effect transistor driven by an ac gate potential. The non-linear response to the ac signal is computed through Floquet theory for scattering states and Landauer-B\"uttiker theory for charge current and its fluctuations. Photon-assisted excitation of a quasibound state in the top-gate barrier leads to resonances in transmission that strongly influence the noise properties. For strong doping of graphene under source and drain contacts, when electrons are transmitted through the channel via evanescent waves, the resonance leads to a substantial suppression of noise. The Fano factor is then reduced well below the pseudo-diffusive value, $F<1/3$, also for strong ac drive. The good signal-to-noise ratio (small Fano factor) on resonance suggests that the device is a good candidate for high-frequency (THz) radiation detection. We show analytically that Klein tunneling (total suppression of back-reflection) persists for perpendicular incidence also when the barrier is driven harmonically. Although the transmission is inelastic and distributed among sideband energies, a sum rule leads to total suppression of shot noise.