Optical determination of electron-phonon coupling in carbon nanotubes.

We report on an optical method to directly measure electron-phonon coupling in carbon nanotubes by correlating the first and second harmonic of the resonant Raman excitation profile. The method is applicable to 1D and 0D systems and is not limited to materials that exhibit photoluminescence. Experimental results for electron-phonon coupling with the radial breathing mode in 5 different nanotubes show coupling strengths from 3-11 meV. The results are in good agreement with the chirality and diameter dependence of the e-ph coupling calculated by Goupalov et al.

Temperature dependence of the optical transition energies of carbon nanotubes: the role of electron-phonon coupling and thermal expansion.

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 -160 to 300 degrees C, 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.

Strain-induced interference effects on the resonance Raman cross section of carbon nanotubes.

In this Letter, we report the effects of strain on the electronic properties of single-wall carbon nanotubes. When we normalize the electronic transition energies to the corresponding values obtained for unstrained tubes, we obtain that, regardless of the tube diameter, all the data collapse onto universal curves following an n - m = constant family pattern. In the case of metallic tubes, quantum interference effects on the Raman cross section are predicted for strained tubes when the energies of the lower and the upper components have nearly the same values. Experimental evidence for the strain-induced Raman cross section changes is observed in single nanotube spectroscopy.

Measuring the uniaxial strain of individual single-wall carbon nanotubes: resonance Raman spectra of atomic-force-microscope modified single-wall nanotubes.

Raman spectroscopy is used to measure the strain in individual single-wall carbon nanotubes, strained by manipulation with an atomic-force-microscope tip. Under strains varying from 0.06%-1.65%, the in-plane vibrational mode frequencies are lowered by as much as 1.5% (40 cm(-1)), while the radial breathing mode (RBM) remains unchanged. The RBM Stokes/anti-Stokes intensity ratio remains unchanged under strain. The elasticity of these strain deformations is demonstrated as the down-shifted Raman modes resume their prestrain frequencies after a nanotube is broken under excessive strain.