Aharonov-Bohm spectral features and coherence lengths in carbon nanotubes

Abstract

The electronic properties of carbon nanotubes are investigated in the presence of disorder and a magnetic field parallel or perpendicular to the nanotube axis. In the parallel field geometry, the $ϕ_{0}(=hc/e)$-periodic metal-insulator transition (MIT) induced in metallic or semiconducting nanotubes is shown to be related to a chirality-dependent shifting of the energy of the van Hove singularities (VHSs). The effect of disorder on this magnetic field-related mechanism is considered with a discussion of mean free paths, localization lengths and magnetic dephasing rate in the context of recent experiments.