We calculate the photocurrent in a clean graphene sample normally irradiated by a monochromatic electromagnetic field and subject to a step-like electrostatic potential. We consider the photon energies ℏΩ that significantly exceed the height of the potential barrier, as is the case in the recent experiments with graphene-based photodetectors. The photocurrent comes from the resonant absorption of photons by electrons and decreases with increasing ratio ℏΩ/U0. It is weakly affected by the background gate voltage and depends on the light polarization as ∝sin2γ, γ being the angle between the potential and the polarization plane.
@article{arxiv.1010.3618,
title = {Photocurrent in a visible-light graphene photodiode},
author = {S. Mai and S. V. Syzranov and K. B. Efetov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1010.3618},
year = {2011}
}