The propagation of azimuthally symmetric guided waves in multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was analyzed theoretically in the mid-infrared and the visible regimes. The MWCNTs were modeled as ensembles of concentric, cylindrical, conducting shells.
Slightly attenuated guided waves and antenna resonances due to the edge effect exist for not-too-thick MWCNTs in the far- and mid-infrared regimes. Interband transitions hinder the propagation of guided waves and have a deleterious effect on the performance of a finite-length MWCNT as an antenna. Propagation of surface-plasmon waves along an MWCNT with a gold core was also analyzed. In the near-infrared and the visible regimes, the shells behave effectively as lossy dielectrics suppressing surface-plasmon-wave propagation along the gold core.
Electromagnetic characteristics of single-walled finite-length carbon nanotubes - absorption cross-section and field enhancement in the near zone - are theoretically studied in a wide frequency range from terahertz to visible. The analysis is based o
n the impedance-type effective boundary conditions and the integral equation technique. Comparison with experimental results is carried out allowing qualitative physical interpretation of low-frequency (far-IR and terahertz) absorption band observed in experiments. Potentiality of CNTs for the IR photothermolysis of living cells is discussed. Strong local field enhancement is predicted to be inherent to metallic CNTs in the near-field zone providing necessary mechanism for far-IR and terahertz near-field optics.
An equivalent-multishell approach for the approximate calculation of the characteristics of electromagnetic waves propagating in almost circular (azimuthally symmetric), closely packed bundles of parallel, identical, and metallic carbon nanotubes (CN
Ts) yields results in reasonably good agreement with a many-body technique, for infinitely long bundles when the number of CNTs is moderately high. The slow-wave coefficients for azimunthally symmetric guided waves increase with the number of metallic CNTs in the bundle, tending for thick bundles to unity, which is characteristic of macroscopic metallic wires. The existence of an azimuthally nonsymmetric guided wave at low frequencies in a bundle of a large number of finite-length CNTs stands in contrast to the characteristics of guided-wave propagation in a single CNT. The equivalent-multishell approach yields the polarizability scalar and the antenna efficiency of a bundle of finite-length CNTs in the long-wavelength regime over a wide frequency range spanning the terahertz and the near-infrared regimes. Edge effects give rise to geometric resonances in such bundles. The antenna efficiency of a CNT bundle at the first resonance can exceed that of a single CNT by four orders of magnitude, which is promising for the design and development of CNT-bundle antennas and composite materials containing CNT-bundles as inclusions.
