Single Wall Nanotubes: Atomic Like Behaviour and Microscopic Approach

Abstract

Recent experiments about the low temperature behaviour of a Single Wall Carbon Nanotube (SWCNT) showed typical Coulomb Blockade (CB) peaks in the zero bias conductance and allowed us to investigate the energy levels of interacting electrons. Other experiments confirmed the theoretical prediction about the crucial role which the long range nature of the Coulomb interaction plays in the correlated electronic transport through a SWCNT with two intramolecular tunneling barriers. In order to investigate the effects on low dimensional electron systems due to the range of electron electron repulsion, we introduce a model for the interaction which interpolates well between short and long range regimes. Our results could be compared with experimental data obtained in SWCNTs and with those obtained for an ideal vertical Quantum Dot (QD). For a better understanding of some experimental results we also discuss how defects and doping can break some symmetries of the bandstructure of a SWCNT.