Filtering electrons using valley shaped band structure of graphene

Synopsis

Recently graphene has attracted attention as a high quality candidate for related advanced technologies. In this talk, I will describe a theoretical valley filter and valve mechanism in monolayer graphene system by applying a strong electrostatic potential. Valley is a feature of the band structure of the some of the 2D material such as graphene that can be exploited as a further degree of freedom of the electrons. Analogous to the spintronics where the electron's spin is harnessed to store, manipulate and read out information, the field that exploits valley as a degree of freedom for electrons is called valleytronics. Since there is a correspondence between the principal elements of spintronics and valleytronics, it is of great importance to find a high quality valley filtering mechanism in valleytronics to cover the decisive role of the spin filter in spintronics.