"Dark" vs "Bright" Excitons in Carbon Nanotubes: Applications to Quantum Optics

TL;DR

This paper explores how the manipulation of bright and dark exciton states in carbon nanotubes can enhance quantum optical applications, including efficient light generation, quantum storage, and negative refractive index media, even at elevated temperatures.

Contribution

It introduces methods to control dark and bright excitons in carbon nanotubes for advanced quantum optical device applications, leveraging quantum coherence and multiphoton excitation schemes.

Findings

Dark and bright excitons have distinct recombination times.

Quantum coherence can manipulate dark states for efficient light emission.

High exciton binding energies enable device operation at elevated temperatures.

Abstract

It is strong Coulomb effects in carbon nanotubes that lead to formation of the so-called "bright" and "dark" (forbidden one-photon optical transition) exciton states, and dramatically decrease the efficiency of one-photon light emission via trapping of the carriers by "dark" states. We demonstrate that the proper use of these "bright" and "dark" exciton states with distinctively different recombination times may turn the situation around: the use of quantum coherence and multiphoton schemes of excitation potentially not only allow one to efficiently manipulate the dark states, but can also create conditions for efficient light generation in different frequency regions, produce "slow" or "fast" light, implement quantum light storage, media with a negative refractive index, and other quantum-optical regimes. Possible quantum-optical carbon nanotube devices have a potential for suitable performance at elevated temperatures, because the binding energies of excitons in single-walled nanotubes are hundreds-of-meV high.