Photo-induced valley currents in strained graphene

Abstract

The theoretical results are presented showing that strain-induced anisotropy of graphene spectrum gives rise to the valley currents under the illumination by normally incident light. The currents of the two graphene valleys are mutually compensated providing zero net electric current. The magnitude and direction of the valley currents are determined by the parameters of strain and light polarization. For not too high photon energy strain-induced valley current exceed that due to intrinsic warping of the graphene spectrum which suggests feasibility of strain-mediated valleytronics.