Ballistic transport of bilayer graphene nanoribbons in a spatially modulated magnetic field

• The ballistic transport properties of bilayer graphene nanoribbons in a spatially modulated magnetic field have been discussed.
• The chemical-potential-dependent conductance exhibits stepwise-increasing behavior and peak structure.
• The rectangular structure of the conductance turns into a single-peak structure as temperature rises.

The ballistic transport properties of bilayer graphene nanoribbons in a spatially modulated magnetic field are investigated theoretically by using the Landauer–Buttiker formalism. The band structure is composed of partial flat bands at the Fermi level and many oscillating parabolic subbands. The energy dispersion is found to exhibit significant dependence on the field strength and the modulation period. Furthermore, there is competition between the magnetic confinement effect and the quantum confinement effect. These energy dispersion properties are directly reflected in the electrical and thermal conductances. The chemical-potential-dependent conductance exhibits stepwise-increasing behavior and peak structure. The rectangular structure of the electrical conductance turns into a single-peak structure as temperature rises. Furthermore, quantum conductance behavior in bilayer graphene nanoribbons can be observed experimentally at temperatures below 10 K.