Semi-massless fermions tunneling through a gate barrier in graphene

Abstract

In the case of the strongly deformed graphene, gapless graphene may turn to gapped graphene at the critical deformation. We find that, like semi-massless fermions, electrons in the deformed graphene, at the critical point, mimic the dispersions of the massless fermions in one direction and the massive fermions in the other. Our predicted dispersion formula is the generalization of the previously predicted formula. The behavior of the particle-like semi-massless fermions tunneling through a gate barrier is contrasted with that of the (pure) massless fermions tunneling through a gate barrier in the original graphene. This is due to the effect of the combination between the massless and the massive particle dispersions at the critical deformation.