  A charged particle whose energy is less than the electric potential step it
is incident upon, is expected to undergo partial reflection and transmission.
In bilayer graphene, however, a potential step in the form of an antisymmetric
kink results in particle localization due to the interaction between the
particle and its chiral partner. It is found that when the potential step
exceeds a threshold, zero-energy modes of the system emerge, and causes the
kink to acquire a charge. The Hall-effect plateaus in the vicinity of the zero
modes correspond, unexpectedly, to those of the monolayer. The topological
nature of these kink-induced effects and the ease with which a kink can be
generated in practice, suggest possible applications in e.g. storage of
information or switching devices.
