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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
Due to their unique mechanical, thermal, and electronic properties carbon nanotubes are the promising material for fabrication of nano-transistors,robust nanocomposites, storage devices, field emission sources and other novel applications. Recent spectroscopic experiments, based on photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy, reveal the importance of electron-electron interaction, excitons, and electron-phonon coupling in single walled nanotubes. Despite the recent progress in this area the fundamental physics of the nanotube interactions with light remains poorly understood. We intend to apply a family of semiempirical methods to study the excited state structure of carbon nanotubes as a function of their diameter, chirality, and length. This will allow us to understand and analyze the photoexcitation dynamics, and the underlying exitonic effects and coupling to vibrational modes in nanotube materials.