Klein tunneling and cone transport in AA-stacked bilayer graphene

Matthew Sanderson, Yee Sin Ang, Chao Zhang

Published 2013-11-27, updated 2013-12-03Version 2

We investigate the quantum tunneling of electrons in an AA-stacked bilayer graphene (BLG) $n$-$p$ junction and $n$-$p$-$n$ junction. We show that Klein tunneling of an electron can occur in this system. The quasiparticles are not only chiral but are additionally described by a `cone index'. Due to the orthogonality of states with different cone indexes, electron transport across a potential barrier must strictly conserve the cone index and this leads to the protected cone transport which is unique in AA-stacked BLG. Together with the negative refraction of electrons, electrons residing in different cones can be spatially separated according to their cone index when transmitted across an $n$-$p$ junction. This suggests the possibility of `cone-tronic' devices based on AA-stacked BLG. Finally, we calculate the junction conductance of the system.