Dispersionless propagation of electron wavepackets in single-walled carbon nanotubes

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that electron wavepackets in metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes propagate without dispersion over micron distances at room temperature, despite phonon interactions, unlike in semiconducting nanotubes.

Contribution

It introduces a Lindblad-based density-matrix approach to analyze dissipation and decoherence effects on electron wavepackets in nanotubes, revealing dispersionless propagation in metallic types.

Findings

Wavepackets in metallic nanotubes remain shape-preserving over micron distances.

Dissipation and decoherence effects are effectively modeled using the Lindblad approach.

Semiconducting nanotubes exhibit typical wavepacket dispersion.

Abstract

We investigate the propagation of electron wavepackets in single-walled carbon nanotubes via a Lindblad-based density-matrix approach that enables us to account for both dissipation and decoherence effects induced by various phonon modes. We show that, while in semiconducting nanotubes the wavepacket experiences the typical dispersion of conventional materials, in metallic nanotubes its shape remains essentially unaltered, even in the presence of the electron-phonon coupling, up to micron distances at room temperature.