Optical Spectroscopy of Individual Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes 18:30 O&s 1 19:00 O&s 2 Growth and Optical Properties of Small-bundled Vertically Aligned Single-walled Carbon

In this talk, we describe recent experimental investigations of optical spectroscopy at the level of an individual nanotube. The principal experimental method has been Rayleigh scattering (elastic scattering) spectroscopy, an approach suitable for probing both semiconducting and metallic nanotubes. Recent measurements include a direct determination of the correlation between optical spectra and nanotube chiral index, as achieved through a combination of Rayleigh scattering measurements and electron diffraction on individual nanotubes; investigation of the influence of the local environment on nanotube electronic spectra, notably the effect of the formation of small nanotube bundles; a determination of the shifts in the electronic transitions induced by controlled axial strain applied to individual nanotubes; investigations of the mechanical properties of individual nanotubes of defined chiral index; and the identification and electrical characterization of nanotubes with spontaneous changes in structure along their length. (These investigations were carried out in collaboration with the groups of Profs. Louis Brus, James Hone, and Stephen O’Brien at Columbia University and the group of Dr. Yimei Zhu at Brookhaven National Lab.)