Bipolar electron waveguides in two-dimensional materials with tilted Dirac cones

Abstract

We show that the (2+1)-dimensional massless Dirac equation, which includes a tilt term, can be reduced to the biconfluent Heun equation for a broad range of scalar confining potentials, including the well-known Morse potential. Applying these solutions, we investigate a bipolar electron waveguide in 8-$Pmmn$ borophene, formed by a well and barrier, both described by the Morse potential. We demonstrate that the ability of two-dimensional materials with tilted Dirac cones to localize electrons in both a barrier and a well can be harnessed to create pseudogaps in their electronic spectrum. These pseudogaps can be tuned through varying the applied top-gate voltage. Potential opto-valleytronic and terahertz applications are discussed.