Superconductivity in ropes of carbon nanotubes

TL;DR

This paper reviews experimental and theoretical evidence for intrinsic superconductivity in ropes of single-wall carbon nanotubes, highlighting phonon-mediated interactions overcoming Coulomb repulsion and explaining resistance behavior via quantum phase slips.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review and theoretical explanation of superconductivity in carbon nanotube ropes, emphasizing the role of phonons and quantum phase slips in a 1D limit.

Findings

Strong experimental evidence for superconductivity in nanotube ropes.

Phonon-mediated interactions can overcome Coulomb repulsion.

Quantum phase slips explain temperature-dependent resistance.

Abstract

Recent experimental and theoretical results on intrinsic superconductivity in ropes of single-wall carbon nanotubes are reviewed and compared. We find strong experimental evidence for superconductivity when the distance between the normal electrodes is large enough. This indicates the presence of attractive phonon-mediated interactions in carbon nanotubes, which can even overcome the repulsive Coulomb interactions. The effective low-energy theory of rope superconductivity explains the experimental results on the temperature-dependent resistance below the transition temperature in terms of quantum phase slips. Quantitative agreement with only one fit parameter can be obtained. Nanotube ropes thus represent superconductors in an extreme 1D limit never explored before.