Spontaneous decay of excited atomic states near a carbon nanotube

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how the presence of a carbon nanotube significantly enhances the spontaneous decay rate of nearby excited atoms, mainly due to surface excitations, with potential increases of 6 to 7 orders of magnitude.

Contribution

It demonstrates the dramatic increase in atomic decay rates near carbon nanotubes and links this effect to nonradiative surface excitations, expanding understanding of atom-nanotube interactions.

Findings

Decay rate increases by 6 to 7 orders of magnitude near nanotubes.

Nonradiative decay via surface excitations dominates near the nanotube surface.

Effect observed for various achiral nanotubes.

Abstract

Spontaneous decay process of an excited atom placed inside or outside (near the surface) a carbon nanotube is analyzed. Calculations have been performed for various achiral nanotubes. The effect of the nanotube surface has been demonstrated to dramatically increase the atomic spontaneous decay rate -- by 6 to 7 orders of magnitude compared with that of the same atom in vacuum. Such an increase is associated with the nonradiative decay via surface excitations in the nanotube.