Conductance of metallic carbon nanotubes dipped into a metal
arXiv:cond-mat/0110218 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.64.201401
Abstract
We calculate the conductance variation of several metallic carbon nanotubes as their end is being dipped into a liquid metal electrode, where experiments have shown an achievable conductance close to 1 quantum of conductance. The calculated conductance for a (40,40) nanotube indicates that the current flows almost entirely through the pi mode, and not the pi* mode. The calculation also predicts that for narrower nanotubes (~1 nm in diameter), in a 'weak coupling' regime, the saturation of both pi and pi* modes should be observable. An experiment is proposed to verify this point.
Accepted in Phys. Rev. B rapid commun.; 5 pages, 4 figs