title: Photodetection and Photoswitch Based On Polarized Optical Response of Macroscopically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes.
abstract: Light polarization is extensively applied in optical detection, industry processing and telecommunication. Although aligned carbon nanotube naturally suppresses the transmittance of light polarized parallel to its axial direction, there is little application regarding the photodetection of carbon nanotube based on this anisotropic interaction with linearly polarized light. Here, we report a photodetection device realized by aligned carbon nanotube. Because of the different absorption behavior of polarized light with respect to polarization angles, such device delivers an explicit response to specific light wavelength regardless of its intensity. Furthermore, combining both experimental and mathematical analysis, we found that the light absorption of different wavelength causes characteristic thermoelectric voltage generation, which makes aligned carbon nanotube promising in optical detection. This work can also be utilized directly in developing new types of photoswitch that features a broad spectrum application from near-ultraviolet to intermediate infrared with easy integration into practical electric devices, for instance, a "wavelength lock".
authors.affiliation: Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Changhong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shoushan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fan
keywords: carbon nanotube; photodetector; photoswitch; polarimetry; thermoelectric effect