Detection of valley currents in graphene nanoribbons

There are two valleys in the band structure of graphene zigzag ribbons, which can be used to construct valleytronic devices. We studied the use of a T junction formed by an armchair ribbon and a zigzag ribbon to detect the valley-dependent currents in a zigzag graphene ribbon. A current flowing in a zigzag ribbon is divided by the T junction into the zigzag and armchair leads and this separation process is valley dependent. By measuring the currents in the two outgoing leads, the valley-dependent currents in the incoming lead can be determined. The method does not require superconducting or magnetic elements as in other approaches and thus will be useful in the development of valleytronic devices.