Experimental measurement of transport phenomena in gate-controlled graphene superlattice junctions

Measure the Fabry–Pérot interference, Hofstadter-butterfly conductance signatures, and supersnake states predicted for gate-defined normal-graphene–superlattice-graphene–normal-graphene junctions, thereby testing whether these transport phenomena occur in experimentally realizable devices.

Background

The paper studies a graphene device in which a finite square-lattice superlattice region is embedded between two normal graphene leads. Quantum-transport simulations predict several regimes within this single architecture: Fabry–Pérot interference at zero and weak magnetic fields, Hofstadter-butterfly conductance patterns at magnetic fields up to approximately 3 T, and supersnake states at intermediate fields. These effects arise from the combined influence of interface scattering, cavity resonances, miniband reconstruction, and anomalous cyclotron motion in the superlattice region.

The authors identify experimental verification as unresolved. In particular, the predicted transport signatures are based on a clean-limit model and simulations using a realistic gate-defined superlattice geometry motivated by existing experiments, but the phenomena themselves had not yet been measured in such junctions. Experimental observation would test the proposed NGr–SGr–NGr platform and establish whether it can support the multiple transport regimes predicted by the theory.

References

All these features, based on a realistic SL model originating from the experiment of Ref. \onlinecite{Forsythe2018}, are yet to be measured, pointing out that ``there's plenty of room'' to be explored in such gate-controlled graphene SL devices.

— Quantum transport across normal-superlattice-normal graphene junctions: Fabry-Pérot interference, Hofstadter butterfly, and supersnake states  (2609.19627 - Hsu et al., 17 Sep 2026) in Introduction, paragraph beginning “A natural, yet largely unexplored, extension”