Experimental observation of the Wigner cusps in a metallic carbon nanotube

ORAL

Abstract

The Wigner cusp is a phenomenon observed in nuclear physics. The cusp is manifested in condensed matter physics in theoretical calculations of scattering induced by impurities: the impurity scattering is highly enhanced as the energy of charge carriers near the threshold energies for another conduction subbands. Such effects are commonly seen in transport calculations of carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoribbons. Yet, the Wigner cusp has never been observed experimentally in condensed matter systems.

Metallic carbon nanotubes sometime show unusual gate dependent conductance characterized by significant suppression of conductance. Such measurements have been attributed to the contributions from the contacts. We have performed length-dependent resistance measurements on a chiral-angle known metallic nanotube and show that such effect is intrinsic to nanotubes. Our tight-binding, recursive Green’s function simulation show that the suppression was the manifestation of the Wigner cusp induced by substrate-bound charged impurities.

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Presenters

  • Masa Ishigami

    Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, Univ of Central Florida, Physics, Univ of Central Florida

Authors

  • Masa Ishigami

    Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, Univ of Central Florida, Physics, Univ of Central Florida

  • Brandon Blue

    Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, Univ of Central Florida, Physics, Univ of Central Florida

  • Ryuichi Tsuchikawa

    Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Utah, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Physics, University of Utah

  • Amin Ahmadi

    Physics, Univ of Central Florida

  • Daniel Heligman

    Physics, Ohio State University, Department of Physics , The Ohio State University

  • Zhenghi Zhang

    Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University

  • James Hone

    Physics, Columbia University, Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University

  • Eduardo Mucciolo

    Univ of Central Florida, University of Central Florida, Physics, University of Central Florida, Physics, Univ of Central Florida