Scaling of excitons in carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Light emission from carbon nanotubes is expected to be dominated by excitonic recombination. Here we calculate the properties of excitons in nanotubes embedded in a dielectric, for a wide range of tube radii and dielectric environments. We find that simple scaling relationships give a good description of the binding energy, exciton size, and oscillator strength.

4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett