Stark effect of excitons in individual air-suspended carbon nanotubes

TL;DR

This study examines how electric fields cause redshifts in photoluminescence from individual air-suspended carbon nanotubes, attributing the shifts to the Stark effect and confirming theoretical predictions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of the Stark effect on excitons in air-suspended nanotubes, including experimental validation and comparison with theory.

Findings

Redshifts scale quadratically with electric field.

Heating and relaxation effects are minimal.

Theoretical predictions match experimental data.

Abstract

We investigate electric-field induced redshifts of photoluminescence from individual single-walled carbon nanotubes. The shifts scale quadratically with field, while measurements with different excitation powers and energies show that effects from heating and relaxation pathways are small. We attribute the shifts to the Stark effect, and characterize nanotubes with different chiralities. By taking into account exciton binding energies for air-suspended tubes, we find that theoretical predictions are in quantitative agreement.