Klein Tunneling in β12 Borophene

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2024 May 1;14(9):790. doi: 10.3390/nano14090790.

Abstract

Motivated by the recent observation of Klein tunneling in 8-Pmmn borophene, we delve into the phenomenon in β12 borophene by employing tight-binding approximation theory to establish a theoretical mode. The tight-binding model is a semi-empirical method for establishing the Hamiltonian based on atomic orbitals. A single cell of β12 borophene contains five atoms and multiple central bonds, so it creates the complexity of the tight-binding model Hamiltonian of β12 borophene. We investigate transmission across one potential barrier and two potential barriers by changing the width and height of barriers and the distance between two potential barriers. Regardless of the change in the barrier heights and widths, we find the interface to be perfectly transparent for normal incidence. For other angles of incidence, perfect transmission at certain angles can also be observed. Furthermore, perfect and all-angle transmission across a potential barrier takes place when the incident energy approaches the Dirac point. This is analogous to the "super", all-angle transmission reported for the dice lattice for Klein tunneling across a potential barrier. These findings highlight the significance of our theoretical model in understanding the complex dynamics of Klein tunneling in borophene structures.

Keywords: Dirac fermions; Klein tunneling; β12 borophene.

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Grant Nos. 11704078), Guangdong University of Technology One-Hundred Young Talents Program (Project No. 220413143).