Temperature Dependence of the Optical Transition Energies of Carbon Nanotubes: The Role of Electron-Phonon Coupling and Thermal Expansion
Journal Article

Published: Friday, March 31, 2006
Citation: Physical Review Letters, Volume 96, Pages 127403

Authors (12 total): S. B. Cronin, Y. Yin, A. Walsh, R. B. Capaz, A. M. Stolyarov, P. Tangney, M. L. Cohen, S. G. Louie, A. K. Swan, M. Ünlü, B. Goldberg, M. Tinkham

Abstract: Tunable Raman spectroscopy is used to measure the optical transition energies Eii of individual single wall carbon nanotubes. Eii is observed to shift down in energy by as much as 50 meV, from 01160 to 300 02C, in contrast with previous measurements performed on nanotubes in alternate environments, which show upshifts and downshifts in Eii with temperature. We determine that electron-phonon coupling explains our experimental observations of nanotubes suspended in air, neglecting thermal expansion. In contrast, for nanotubes in surfactant or in bundles, thermal expansion of the nanotubes’ environment exerts a nonisotropic pressure on the nanotube that dominates over the effect of electron-phonon coupling.