Single-carbon-nanotube photonics and optoelectronics

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes have unique optical properties as a result of their one-dimensional structure. Not only do they exhibit strong polarization for both absorption and emission, large exciton binding energies allow for room-temperature excitonic luminescence. Furthermore, their emission is in the telecom-wavelength range and they can be directly synthesized on silicon substrates, providing new opportunities for nanoscale photonics and optoelectronics. Here we discuss the use of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes for the generation, manipulation, and detection of light on a chip.