Coherent Electronic Transport through Graphene Constrictions: Subwavelength Regime and Optical Analogy

Nanoelectronic devices smaller than the electron wavelength can be achieved in graphene with current lithography techniques. Here we show that the electronic quantum transport of graphene subwavelength nanodevices presents deep analogies with subwavelength optics. We introduce the concept of electronic diffraction barrier to represent the effect of constrictions and the rich transport phenomena of a variety of nanodevices. Results are presented for Bethe and Kirchhoff diffraction in graphene slits and Fabry-Perot interference oscillations in nanoribbons. The same concept applies to graphene quantum dots and gives new insight into recent experiments in these systems.