Valley to charge current conversion in graphene grain boundaries

Abstract

The conduction properties of a grain boundary junction with Fermi velocity mismatch are analyzed. We provide a generalization of the Dirac Hamiltonian model taking into account the Fermi velocity gradient at the interface. General boundary conditions for the scattering problem are derived within the framework of the matching matrix method. We show that the scattering properties of the interface, as predicted by the theory, strongly depend on the boundary conditions used. We demonstrate that when the valley degeneracy is broken a charge current is established at the grain boundary interface. These findings provide the working principle of a valley to charge current converter, which is relevant for the emergent field of valleytronics.