Dynamic polarization effects on the angular distributions of protons channeled through carbon nanotubes in dielectric media

TL;DR

This study investigates how dynamic polarization in dielectric media influences the angular distributions of protons channeled through carbon nanotubes, revealing significant effects on distribution maxima.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed model combining continuum potential and hydrodynamic response to analyze proton channeling in dielectric environments.

Findings

Dielectric media significantly alter proton angular distribution maxima.

Dynamic polarization effects depend on the surrounding medium's dielectric properties.

Proton distribution patterns are sensitive to nanotube length and proton energy.

Abstract

The best level of ordering and straightening of carbon nanotube arrays is often achieved when they are grown in a dielectric matrix, so such structures present the most suitable candidates for future channeling experiments with carbon nanotubes. Consequently, we investigate here how the dynamic polarization of carbon valence electrons in the presence of various surrounding dielectric media affects the angular distributions of protons channeled through (11,~9) single-wall carbon nanotubes. Proton speeds between 3 and 10 a.u., corresponding to energies of 0.223 and 2.49 MeV, are chosen with the nanotube's length varied between 0.1 and 1 $\mu$m. We describe the repulsive interaction between a proton and the nanotube's atoms in a continuum-potential approximation based on the Doyle-Turner potential, whereas the attractive image force on a proton is calculated using a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model for the dynamic response of the nanotube valence electrons, while assigning to the surrounding medium an appropriate (frequency dependent) dielectric function. The angular distributions of channeled protons are generated using a computer simulation method which solves the proton equations of motion in the transverse plane numerically. Our analysis shows that the presence of a dielectric medium can strongly affect both the appearance and positions of maxima in the angular distributions of channeled protons.