title: Single-walled carbon nanotubes as excitonic optical wires.
abstract: Although metallic nanostructures are useful for nanoscale optics, all of their key optical properties are determined by their geometry. This makes it difficult to adjust these properties independently, and can restrict applications. Here we use the absolute intensity of Rayleigh scattering to show that single-walled carbon nanotubes can form ideal optical wires. The spatial distribution of the radiation scattered by the nanotubes is determined by their shape, but the intensity and spectrum of the scattered radiation are determined by exciton dynamics, quantum-dot-like optical resonances and other intrinsic properties. Moreover, the nanotubes display a uniform peak optical conductivity of approximately 8 e(2)/h, which we derive using an exciton model, suggesting universal behaviour similar to that observed in nanotube conductance. We further demonstrate a radiative coupling between two distant nanotubes, with potential applications in metamaterials and optical antennas.
authors.affiliation: School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Joh
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kinder
authors.forename: Lihong H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Herman
authors.forename: Sang-Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Segal
authors.forename: Jeffreys N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Garnet K-L
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Jiwoong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity; D036103:Nanotechnology; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D053770:Nanowires; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D045663:Quantum Dots; D012542:Scattering, Radiation
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon