Valley-isospin dependence of the quantum Hall effect in a graphene p-n junction

J. Tworzydlo, I. Snyman, A. R. Akhmerov, C. W. J. Beenakker

Published 2007-05-25, updated 2007-06-27Version 2

We calculate the conductance G of a bipolar junction in a graphene nanoribbon, in the high-magnetic field regime where the Hall conductance in the p-doped and n-doped regions is 2e^2/h. In the absence of intervalley scattering, the result G=(e^2/h)(1-cos Phi) depends only on the angle Phi between the valley isospins (= Bloch vectors representing the spinor of the valley polarization) at the two opposite edges. This plateau in the conductance versus Fermi energy is insensitive to electrostatic disorder, while it is destabilized by the dispersionless edge state which may exist at a zigzag boundary. A strain-induced vector potential shifts the conductance plateau up or down by rotating the valley isospin.