Bolometric and non-bolometric radio frequency detection in a metallic single-walled carbon nanotube

TL;DR

This paper investigates radio frequency detection mechanisms in metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes, revealing temperature-dependent behaviors and potential for terahertz applications, with implications for high-frequency detector development.

Contribution

It distinguishes between bolometric and non-bolometric detection in carbon nanotubes and analyzes their temperature and bias current dependencies.

Findings

Bolometric detection dominates at 77 K.

Nonlinear contact effects enable non-bolometric detection at 4.2 K.

Bolometric response can operate at terahertz frequencies.

Abstract

We characterize radio frequency detection in a high-quality metallic single-walled carbon nanotube. At a bath temperature of 77 K, only bolometric (thermal) detection is seen. At a bath temperature of 4.2 K and low bias current, the response is due instead to the electrical nonlinearity of the non-ohmic contacts. At higher bias currents, the contacts recover ohmic behavior and the observed response agrees well with the calculated bolometric responsivity. The bolometric response is expected to operate at terahertz frequencies, and we discuss some of the practical issues associated with developing high frequency detectors based on carbon nanotubes.