Modulation of persistent current in graphene quantum rings.

We investigate the effect of long-range impurity potentials on the persistent current of graphene quantum rings in the presence of an uniform perpendicular magnetic field. The impurity potentials are modeled as finite regions of the ring with a definite length. We show that, due to the relativistic and massless character of the charge carriers in graphene, the effect of such non-uniform potentials on the energy spectrum and on the persistent current of the rings can be reliably modeled by assuming a non-perturbed ring and including an additional phase due to the interaction of the charge carriers with the potential. In addition, the results show the presence of localized states in the impurity regions. Moreover, we show that for the case of a potential created by a p-n-p junction, the persistent current can be modulated by controlling the voltage at the junction.

Gate potential-controlled current switching in graphene Y-junctions.

In this work we investigate the ballistic transport of electrons through three-terminal graphene-based devices. The system consists of a Y-shaped junction formed by three armchair-edged graphene nanoribbons with a rectangular gate potential applied to one of the output branches, whereby current control can be established by the controlling of the refractive index in graphene p-n junctions. Transport properties are obtained by using the Landauer-Büttiker formalism and the tight-binding model within the nearest-neighbor approximation, which allows the calculation of the conductance as function of the Fermi energy, the applied potential, and the system size, as well as the current density. The results demonstrate that the applied electric field can tune the current transmission between the input and two output leads and, consequently, the proposed system acts as a current switch.

Current modulation in graphene p-n junctions with external fields.

In this work we describe a proposal for a graphene-based nanostructure that modulates electric current even in the absence of a gap in the band structure. The device consists of a graphene p-n junction that acts as a Veselago lens that focuses ballistic electrons on the output lead. Applying external (electric and magnetic) fields changes the position of the output focus, reducing the transmission. Such device can be applied to low power field effect transistors, which can benefit from graphene's high electronic mobility.