English

Landau-Level-Resolved Mode Mixing and Shot Noise in Gate-Defined Graphene Quantum Point Contacts

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2026-03-24 v1 Applied Physics

Abstract

Graphene quantum point contacts (QPCs) in the quantum Hall regime host competing transport mechanisms including chiral edge propagation, valley degeneracy, and gate-induced mode mixing. Their interplay is not visible in conductance alone. Shot noise directly probes the statistics of transmission eigenvalues, revealing microscopic mode partitioning that conductance cannot access. We develop a hybrid framework combining tight-binding simulations of gate-defined graphene QPCs with random matrix theory (RMT) to predict shot noise and Fano factor signatures across different quantum Hall regimes, validated against experimental conductance maps of hBN-encapsulated graphene Hall bars. Three distinct regimes are identified: adiabatic propagation, sharp mode filtering, and multi-mode mixing driven by localized states beneath the split gate. For higher Landau levels (NL>0N_L > 0), complete mode mixing produces the universal chaotic-cavity limit F1/4F \simeq 1/4. Strikingly, the zeroth Landau level (NL=0N_L = 0) converges to F=1/3F = 1/3. This distinct value originates in the sublattice polarization of the NL=0N_L = 0 edge state: coupling to mixed-sublattice localized states beneath the gate is suppressed, confining transport to an effective single channel (N=1N = 1). Complete mixing within this single channel yields a flat transmission eigenvalue distribution and hence exactly F=1/3F = 1/3 from single-channel RMT, numerically coincident with but mechanistically distinct from pseudo-diffusive zero-field graphene transport. The F=1/3F = 1/3 versus F=1/4F = 1/4 crossover is a Landau-level-resolved noise signature absent in conductance, providing a direct discriminator between single-channel and multi-channel chaotic transport in graphene QPCs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.22111,
  title  = {Landau-Level-Resolved Mode Mixing and Shot Noise in Gate-Defined Graphene Quantum Point Contacts},
  author = {Shakthidhar Vilvanathan and Jerin Saji and Kristiana Frei and Jakub Tworzydlo and Manohar Kumar},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.22111},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

14 pages and 9 figures