Optical Spectroscopy and Dynamics in Carbon Nanotubes

Single-walled carbon nanotubes constitute nearly ideal one-dimensional material systems. These materials offer a variety of well-defined atomic structures, ready access to nanometer dimensions, and very high aspect ratios. In addition to the fundamental interest in this topic, understanding the spectroscopy and optical interactions of these material systems is critical for the characterization of nanotubes and for progress in potential optoelectronic applications. In this paper we describe recent advances in probing the nature and dynamics of excited states in single-walled carbon nanotubes. Recent advance in both ultrafast measurements and optical spectroscopy of individual nanotubes will be presented. These approaches have permitted us to determine exciton binding energies in different nanotube structures, to obtain optical spectra of nanotubes of independently determined atomic structure, and to examine environmental effects on individual nanotubes.