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arXiv:2604.19297

Quantum transport in gapped graphene under strain and laser--electrostatic barriers

Hasna Chnafa, Clarence Cortes, David Laroze, Ahmed Jellal

cond-mat.mes-hallquant-phSubmitted Apr 21, 2026• Announced Apr 22, 2026
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Abstract

Electron transport in graphene under a laser-modulated barrier is studied in the presence of an energy gap, a scalar potential, and a uniaxial zigzag strain. The transfer-matrix approach is used with the boundary conditions to derive the transmission probabilities as functions of different system parameters. Without strain, raising either the energy gap or the potential generally reduces transmission in the central and lower sidebands. Moderate zigzag strain generates pronounced Fano-type oscillations that vanish at large strain, while transmission increases for low potential and decreases for high values. In the upper sideband, the incidence energy shifts the resonance peaks to the right, and growing the barrier width generates characteristic oscillatory patterns. Furthermore, increasing the laser field amplitude enhances transmission, whereas higher laser frequencies tend to suppress it. These findings offer new perspectives on controlling electronic transport in gapped graphene via external fields, strain, and potential applications in optoelectronic devices.

Comments
12 pages, 10 figures. To appear in Physica B (2026)

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Electron transport in graphene under a laser-modulated barrier is studied in the presence of an energy gap, a scalar potential, and a uniaxial zigzag strain. The transfer-matrix approach is used with the boundary conditions to derive the transmission probabilities as functions of different system parameters. Without strain, raising either the energy gap or the potential generally reduces transmission in the central and lower sidebands. Moderate zigzag strain generates pronounced Fano-type oscillations that vanish at large strain, while transmission increases for low potential and decreases for high values. In the upper sideband, the incidence energy shifts the resonance peaks to the right, and growing the barrier width generates characteristic oscillatory patterns. Furthermore, increasing the laser field amplitude enhances transmission, whereas higher laser frequencies tend to suppress it. These findings offer new perspectives on controlling electronic transport in gapped graphene via external fields, strain, and potential applications in optoelectronic devices.
We study electron transport in a strained graphene sheet subjected to a sequence of NNN electrostatic and magnetic barriers. Employing a modified and improved transfer-matrix framework, we examine how the transmission and reflection coefficients evolve with variations in uniaxial strain and in the number of barriers. The interplay of mechanical deformation and external magnetic fields is found to generate an anomalous Klein tunnelling, allowing the conductance to be effectively modulated through strain and barrier configurations. These findings highlight the role of strain engineering and magnetic field modulation as powerful tools for tailoring charge transport in two-dimensional materials. More broadly, they underscore how mechanical and electromagnetic control can be used to design next-generation solid-state devices with tunable electronic properties.
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We investigate the impact of an induced mass term ΔΔΔ on the current density in graphene subjected to a space- and time-dependent periodic potential U(x,t)U(x,t)U(x,t). By solving the Dirac equation and deriving both the quasi-energy spectrum and the corresponding eigenspinors, we obtain explicit analytical expressions for the current density, which exhibits a clear dependence on ΔΔΔ. We show that ΔΔΔ acts as a tunable control parameter that governs the amplitude, sign, and resonance structure of Josephson-like current oscillations. For normal incidence and a purely time-periodic potential, our results reveal that the oscillations within the energy gap gradually diminish as the mass term ΔΔΔ increases. This suppression leads to a weakening of the Josephson-like effect typically observed in such systems. When the potential U(x,t)U(x,t)U(x,t) is periodic in both space and time, the behavior becomes more complex. The current density can take either positive or negative values depending on the magnitude of the induced gap, and it generally decreases over time. As a result, the resonance phenomena--prominent at lower gap values--become progressively less significant as ΔΔΔ increases. These findings underscore the tunable nature of light-matter interactions and quantum transport in gapped graphene, suggesting potential applications in terahertz (THz) nanoelectronic devices and optically controlled quantum switches.
Tuning quantum tunneling in WSe2_22​ via strain engineering
We present a comprehensive theoretical study of strain-engineered quantum transport in monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe2_22​) in the presence of an electrostatic scalar potential. By incorporating strain effects within a low-energy Dirac framework, we analyze their impact on spin- and valley-resolved transmission, conductance, and polarization. The applied potential barrier partitions the system into three distinct regions, allowing for an analytical derivation of the wave functions in each domain. Enforcing continuity conditions at the interfaces yields exact expressions for the transmission and reflection amplitudes. The transmission probability is evaluated from the corresponding current densities, while the conductance is obtained using the Landauer-Büttiker formalism, enabling a quantitative determination of spin and valley polarizations. Our numerical analysis reveals that strain acts as a powerful tuning parameter that reshapes the electronic dispersion and strongly modifies transport characteristics. In particular, the transmission and conductance exhibit pronounced oscillatory behavior driven by quantum interference and resonant tunneling mechanisms. More importantly, both spin and valley polarizations display substantial and highly controllable variations as functions of strain, barrier height, and incident energy. These results demonstrate that strain and electrostatic engineering provide an efficient and versatile platform for manipulating spin-valley degrees of freedom in WSe2_22​. The ability to tailor polarization and interference effects suggests promising opportunities for the design of next-generation spintronic, valleytronic, and optoelectronic devices based on two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides.
Floquet-driven tunneling control in monolayer MoS2_22​
We study how fermions in molybdenum disulfide MoS2_22​ interact with a laser field and a static potential barrier, focusing on the transmission probability. Our aim is to understand and control photon-assisted quantum transport in this two-dimensional material under external driving. We use the Floquet approximation to describe the wave functions in the three regions of the system. By applying continuity conditions at the boundaries, we obtain a set of equations involving an infinite number of Floquet modes. We explicitly determine transmissions involving the central band EEE and the first sidebands E±ℏωE \pm \hbarωE±ℏω. As for higher-order bands, we use the transfer matrix approach together with current density to compute the associated transmissions. Our results reveal that the transmission probability oscillates for both spin-up and spin-down electrons. The oscillations of spin-down electrons occur over nearly twice the period of spin-up electrons. Among all bands, the central one consistently shows the highest transmission. We also find that stronger laser fields and wider barriers both lead to reduced transmission. Moreover, laser irradiation enables controllable channeling and filtering of transmission bands by tuning the laser intensity and system parameters. This highlights the potential of laser-driven MoS2_22​ structures for highly sensitive electromagnetic sensors and advanced optoelectronic devices.
This work investigates the Floquet dynamics of electrons and excitons (particle-hole pairs) in a Dirac material referred to as Kekulé-distorted graphene. Specifically, we examine the role played by a high frequency driving electromagnetic field on the tunneling and blocking by a potential barrier on both the charged single particles as well as the neutral composite particles. We demonstrate that the small effective masses of the electron and hole for the energy spectrum of this Kekulé distorted graphene leads to practically almost perfect transmission across a symmetric potential barrier for any angle of incidence of impinging excitons. However, this unexpected Klein paradox for excitons does not hold for the single-particle electrons. The reduced total transmission of electron due to Kekulé distortion is more suppressed due to irradiation. Additionally, we calculate and investigate the exciton binding energy since the quantum tunneling of a bound electron-hole pair across a potential barrier is governed by its mass measured in the center of mass and binding energy of the composite pair. Thus, irradiation with circularly polarized light fundamentally modifies exciton formation, coherence and transport properties, thereby producing unusual topological behaviors. These behaviors are unlike conventional Dirac materials. Possible technical applications of the results arising from our investigation include valleytronics due to the folding of the valleys, thereby making intervalley coupling feasible. Other practical applications include optoelectronics due to Floquet tuning of energy spectrum and transport properties.