Channeling of high-energy particles in a multi-wall nanotube

Abstract

Channeling of high-energy particles in straight and bent multi-wall nanotubes (MWNT) has been studied in computer simulations and compared to the channeling properties of single-wall nanotubes (SWNT) and bent crystal lattices. It is demonstrated that MWNT can efficiently channel positively-charged high-energy particles trapped between the walls of MWNT. Bending dechanneling in MWNT has been computed as a function of the particle momentum to nanotube curvature radius ratio, $pv/R$. It is found that a bent MWNT can steer a particle beam with bending capabilities similar to those of bent silicon crystal lattice and to those of best (i.e. the narrowest) SWNT. In view of channeling applications at particle accelerators, MWNT appear favored as compared to SWNT, because MWNT can be produced quite straight (and in aligned array), while SWNT is typically very curved, thus posing a severe problem for channeling applications. Therefore, we suggest that MWNT provide a better candidate for channeling than SWNT.