Valley filtering and valley valves in irradiated pristine graphene

Abstract

We theoretically study valley-filtering in pristine graphene irradiated by bicircular counter-rotating laser drive. The dynamical symmetry of the graphene and laser drive disrupts graphene's inversion symmetry, which results distinct quasi-energy states and Floquet band occupations in the two valleys. Controlling the relative phase between the bicircular laser drive ultimately allows to blocks the contribution from one valley while allowing the opposite valley currents in the system. For practical realization of valley-based device, we propose configurational setup for valley filters and valley valve consisting of two graphene nanoribbons irradiated by two bicircular counter-rotating laser drives with a relative phase shift. It is observed that the relative phase between the two bicircular laser drives offer a control knob to generate valley-selective currents and transport responses with very high efficiency by an all-optical way. In addition, our findings about valley filter and valley valve are robust against moderate disorder and modest changes in driving laser parameters. Present work opens an avenue to realise light-based valleytronics devices in reality.