No Arabic abstract
We present a resonance Raman study of the disorder-induced D mode in a sample highly enriched with semiconducting (9,7) single-walled carbon nanotubes in the excitation energy range of 1.49 - 2.05 eV. The intensity of the D mode shows a resonance behavior near the optical transition of the (9,7) tube. The well-known dispersion of the D-mode frequency, on the other hand, is not observed at the resonance, but only above a certain excitation energy. We explain our results by numerical simulations of the D-mode spectra.
From resonant Raman scattering on isolated nanotubes we obtained the optical transition energies, the radial breathing mode frequency and Raman intensity of both metallic and semiconducting tubes. We unambiguously assigned the chiral index (n_1,n_2) of approximately 50 nanotubes based solely on a third-neighbor tight-binding Kataura plot and find omega_RBM=214.4cm^-1nm/d+18.7cm^-1. In contrast to luminescence experiments we observe all chiralities including zig-zag tubes. The Raman intensities have a systematic chiral-angle dependence confirming recent ab-initio calculations.
Raman spectroscopy on carbon nanotubes (CNT) yields a rich variety of information owing to the close interplay between electronic and vibrational properties. In this paper, we review the properties of double wall carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs). In particular, it is shown that SWCNT encapsulating C$_{60}$, so-called peapods, are transformed into DWCNTs when subject to a high temperature treatment. The inner tubes are grown in a catalyst free environment and do not suffer from impurities or defects that are usually encountered for as-grown SWCNTs or DWCNTs. As a consequence, the inner tubes are grown with a high degree of perfection as deduced from the unusually narrow radial breathing mode (RBM) lines. This apostrophizes the interior of the SWCNTs as a nano-clean room. The mechanism of the inner nanotube production from C$_{60}$ is discussed. We also report recent studies aimed at the simplification and industrial scaling up of the DWCNT production process utilizing a low temperature peapod synthesis method. A splitting of the RBMs of inner tubes is observed. This is related to the interaction between the two shells of the DWCNTs as the same inner tube type can be encapsulated in different outer ones. The sharp appearance of the inner tube RBMs allows a reliable assignment of the tube modes to (n,m) indexes and thus provides a precise determination of the relation between the tube diameter and the RBM frequencies.
We present a detailed comparison between theoretical predictions on electron scattering processes in metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes with defects and experimental data obtained by scanning tunneling spectroscopy of Ar$^+$ irradiated nanotubes. To this purpose we first develop a formalism for studying quantum transport properties of defected nanotubes in presence of source and drain contacts and an STM tip. The formalism is based on a field theoretical approach describing low-energy electrons. We account for the lack of translational invariance induced by defects within the so called extended kp approximation. The theoretical model reproduces the features of the particle-in-a-box-like states observed experimentally. Further, the comparison between theoretical and experimental Fourier-transformed local density of state maps yields clear signatures for inter- and intra-valley electron scattering processes depending on the tube chirality.
Using pre-designed trains of femtosecond optical pulses, we have selectively excited coherent phonons of the radial breathing mode of specific-chirality single-walled carbon nanotubes within an ensemble sample. By analyzing the initial phase of the phonon oscillations, we prove that the tube diameter initially increases in response to ultrafast photoexcitation. Furthermore, from excitation profiles, we demonstrate that an excitonic absorption peak of carbon nanotubes periodically oscillates as a function of time when the tube diameter undergoes radial breathing mode oscillations.
While addition of electrolyte to sodium dodecyl sulfate suspensions of single-wall carbon nanotubes has been demonstrated to result in significant brightening of the nanotube photoluminescence (PL), the brightening mechanism has remained unresolved. Here, we probe this mechanism using time-resolved PL decay measurements. We find that PL decay times increase by a factor of 2 on addition of CsCl as the electrolyte. Such an increase directly parallels an observed near-doubling of PL intensity, indicating the brightening results primarily from changes in nonradiative decay rates associated with exciton diffusion to quenching sites. Our findings indicate that a reduced number of these sites results from electrolyte-induced reorientation of the surfactant surface structure that partially removes pockets of water from the tube surface where excitons can dissociate, and thus underscores the contribution of interfacial water in exciton recombination processes.