A pseudo-magnetic field kink can be realized along a graphene nanoribbon using strain engineering. Electron transport along this kink is governed by snake states that are characterized by a single propagation direction. Those pseudo-magnetic fields point towards opposite directions in the K and K' valleys, leading to valley polarized snake states. In a graphene nanoribbon with armchair edges this effect results in a valley filter that is based only on strain engineering. We discuss how to maximize this valley filtering by adjusting the parameters that define the stress distribution along the graphene ribbon.
@article{arxiv.1606.09226,
title = {All-strain based valley filter in graphene nanoribbons using snake states},
author = {L. S. Cavalcante and A. Chaves and D. R. da Costa and G. A. Farias and F. M. Peeters},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1606.09226},
year = {2016}
}