Electronic transport in normal-conductor/graphene/normal-conductor junctions and conditions for insulating behavior at a finite charge-carrier density

Abstract

We investigate the conductance of normal-conductor/graphene/normal-conductor (NGN) junctions for arbitrary on-site potentials in the normal and graphitic parts of the system. We find that a ballistic NGN junction can display insulating behavior even when the charge-carrier density in the graphene part is finite. This effect originates in the different $\mathbf{k}$ intervals supporting propagating modes in graphene and a normal conductor, and persists for moderate levels of bulk, edge, or interface disorder. The ensuing conductance thresholds could be used as an electronic tool to map out details of the graphene band structure in absolute $\mathbf{k}$ space.