Intertube coupling in ropes of single-wall carbon nanotubes

We investigate the coupling between individual tubes in a rope of single-wall carbon nanotubes using four probe resistance measurements. By introducing defects through the controlled sputtering of the rope we generate a strong nonmonotonic temperature dependence of the four terminal resistance. This behavior reflects the interplay between localization in the intentionally damaged tubes and coupling to undamaged tubes in the same rope. Using a simple model we obtain the coherence length and the coupling resistance. The coupling mechanism is argued to involve direct tunneling between tubes.     

Orientational melting in carbon nanotube ropes

Using Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the possibility of an orientational melting transition within a "rope" of carbon nanotubes. When twisting nanotubes bundle up during the synthesis, orientational dislocations or twistons arise from the competition between the anisotropic intertube interactions, which tend to align neighboring tubes, and the torsion rigidity that tends to keep individual tubes straight. We map the energetics of a rope containing twistons onto a lattice gas model and find that the onset of a free "diffusion" of twistons, corresponding to orientational melting, occurs at T(OM) greater, similar160 K.     

Modeling and simulations of the behavior of glass particles in a rotating drum in heptane and water vapor atmospheres

We have performed noise measurements on suspended ropes of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) between 1 and 300 K for different values of dc current through the ropes. We find that the shot noise is suppressed by more than a factor 100 compared to the full shot noise 2eI. We have also measured an individual SWNT and found a level of noise which is smaller than the minimum expected. Another finding is the very low level of 1/f noise, which is significantly lower than previous observations. We propose two possible interpretations for the strong shot noise reduction: i) Transport within a rope takes place through few nearly ballistic tubes within a rope and possibly involves non integer effective charges with e ^*∼ 0.3e. ii) A substantial fraction of the tubes conduct with a strong reduction of effective charge (by more than a factor 50). Received 25 January 2002 Published online 19 July 2002     

Transition of MHD kink-stability properties between line-tied and non-line-tied boundary conditions

Magnetic flux tubes or flux ropes in plasmas are important in nature and the laboratory. Axial boundary conditions strongly affect flux rope behavior, but this has never been systematically investigated. We experimentally demonstrate for the first time axial boundary conditions that are continuously varied between ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) line-tied (fixed) and non-line-tied (free). In contrast with the usual interpretation that mechanical plasma motion is MHD line-tied to a conducting boundary, we constrain boundary plasma motion to cause the line-tied condition.     

Spin splitting induced by spin-orbit interaction in chiral nanotubes

We show that chiral tubes present spin splitting at the Fermi level in the absence of a magnetic field, whereas achiral tubes preserve spin degeneracy, as evidenced by tight-binding electronic structure calculations with the inclusion of spin-orbit interaction. These remarkably different behaviors of chiral and nonchiral nanotubes have a symmetry origin, which may provide a global explanation to recently reported spin-dependent transport experiments which were in apparent contradiction.     

Few-body bound states in dipolar gases and their detection

We consider dipolar interactions between heteronuclear molecules in a low-dimensional setup consisting of two one-dimensional tubes. We demonstrate that attraction between molecules in different tubes can overcome intratube repulsion and complexes with several molecules in the same tube are stable. In situ detection schemes of the few-body complexes are proposed. We discuss extensions to many tubes and layers, and outline the implications on many-body physics.     

Torus Knots and Links from Eikonal Equations and Knot Invariants for Classification of Atoms

The history of knot theory and physics has a deep roots. It started by Lord Kelvin, in 1867, when he conjectured that atoms were knotted vortex tubes of ether. In 1997, Faddeev and Niemi suggested that knots might exist as stable soliton solution in a simple three dimensional classical field theory. That opening up a wide range of possible applications in physics. In this work we consider the Eikonal equation, which is a partial differential equation describing the traveltime propagation, which is an important part of seismic imaging algorithms. We will follow the work of Wereszczynski of solving the Eikonal equation in cylindrical coordinates. We show that only torus knots and links do occur, so figure eight knot does not occur. We show that these solutions are not unique, which means the possible occurrence of the same knot type for different configurations. Using the idea of framed knots, it is shown that two Eikonal knots are equivalent if and only if they are ambient isotopic as a framed knots, i.e. if and only if they are of the same knot type and of the same twisting number.     

Low-energy electronic properties of pairs of identical carbon nanotubes

The tight-binding model is employed to study the low-energy electronic properties of aligned pairs of identical single-wall carbon nanotubes with the intertube interactions. The rotational symmetry about the tube axes is totally broken, and the intertube interactions hybridize the atomic states on each tube to create new sub-bands. Sub-band spacing, sub-band curvature, band-edge states, and energy gaps are sensitive to stacking types and are also dependent on the radius and the chirality of the tubes. The systems could be metal, semimetal, or semiconductor depending on their stacking types. In particular, an armchair pair keeps the band structures linear like a single tube if the pair has a glide symmetry with respect to the plane between its constituent tubes. Breaking this symmetry makes the pair semimetallic or semiconducting. However, there are no such properties for chiral and zigzag pairs. The variations in electronic structures of these pairs are more complicated and more sensitive to the tube radii. Instead of being like a rope or a large bundle, the stacking-type dependent behavior is more similar to commensurate double-wall carbon nanotubes.     

Hysteresis and negative differential resistance of the I–V characteristic of a water bridge

It is experimentally demonstrated that the recently discussed properties of the nanopore ion-exchange membranes (hysteresis of the I–V characteristic in solution and negative differential resistance) are not related to the membrane structure. The same effects are observed in a water bridge and tubes filled with water and may be related to the geometrical shape of the liquid conductor. The experimental effects are qualitatively interpreted.     

Observations of slow electron holes at a magnetic reconnection site

We report in situ observations of high-frequency electrostatic waves in the vicinity of a reconnection site in the Earth's magnetotail. Two different types of waves are observed inside an ion-scale magnetic flux rope embedded in a reconnecting current sheet. Electron holes (weak double layers) produced by the Buneman instability are observed in the density minimum in the center of the flux rope. Higher frequency broadband electrostatic waves with frequencies extending up to f(pe) are driven by the electron beam and are observed in the denser part of the rope. Our observations demonstrate multiscale coupling during the reconnection: Electron-scale physics is induced by the dynamics of an ion-scale flux rope embedded in a yet larger-scale magnetic reconnection process.     

Femtoscopy within a hydrodynamic approach based on flux tube initial conditions

In pp scattering at LHC energies, large numbers of elementary scatterings will contribute significantly, and the corresponding high multiplicity events will be of particular interest. Elementary scatterings are parton ladders, identified with color flux tubes. In high multiplicity events, many of these flux tubes are produced in the same space region, creating high energy densities. We argue that there is good reason to employ the successful procedure used for heavy ion collisions: matter is assumed to thermalize quickly, so that the energy from the flux tubes can be taken as initial condition for a hydro-dynamic expansion. This scenario gets spectacular support from very recent results on Bose-Einstein correlations in pp scattering at 900 GeV at the LHC.     

Energy extraction during uniform lowering of a body into a black hole

We construct a rigid reference frame accompanying a rope that is being lowered uniformly into a black hole with arbitrary velocity. We calculate the work done at the initial point in the case of lowering a load on a weightless rope and in the case of lowering a homogeneous massive rope. In both cases the work turns out to equal the rest energy of the lowered body.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 32–36, February, 1989.     

Dynamic electromagnetic response of a homogeneous conducting cylinder for symmetric excitation

A stranded wire rope is idealized as a homogeneous conducting and permeable cylinder of circular cross section and of infinite length. The rope is excited by a coaxial solenoid or finite-length multi-turn coil that carries an azimuthally directed alternating current. The rope and the enclosing solenoid may have a uniform velocity relative to each other. Using a nonrelativistic analysis, the nature of this dynamic interaction is examined and numerical results are presented for parameter values that are relevant to both static and dynamic conditions in nondestructive testing of such cylindrical conductors. It is shown that for motional velocitiesv larger than about 50 m/s the dynamic interaction with the rope specimen is appreciably modified from that for the static condition (i. e., forv=0).     

An apparent paradox in the thermodynamics of Fermi levels

We consider what happens when two metal plates having different work functions approach one another. If they are connected by a wire the plates will do work and build up an electric field in the space between them. The system does work even though the electron Fermi level is the same throughout. We can readily identify the source of energy needed for this work. The apparent contradiction of the Thermodynamics of Fermi levels is resolved if we recognize that under certain conditions the transfer of charge between Fermi levels at the same level can perform work.     

Observation of peak splitting in the Coulomb blockade regime of a carbon nanotube rope

Electronic transport measurements have been carried out on a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCN) rope contacted to a 4-probe Au/Pd electrode in the Coulomb blockade regime. With varying substrate backgate voltage, the observed Coulomb blockade peaks exhibit interesting three-way splitting. We find that this peak splitting can be attributed to a contribution from resonant tunnelling through discrete energy levels of a finite length metallic SWCN within the rope. We also consider the role that interactions between `quantum dot' (Q-dot) regions within the rope can play in causing the peak splitting.     

Morphologies and microstructures of carbon nanotubes prepared by self—sustained arc discharging

We have investigated the morphology and microstructure of carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles in cathode deposits prepared by self-sustained arc discharge. Scanning electron microscopy images indicate that there are two regions exhibiting different morphologies on the top surface of the cathode deposits. In the central region, there is a triangular pattern of spots with a diameter up to 100μm, which consists of carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles. In the fringe region, carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles are distributed randomly. In addition, carbon nanotubes in the central region have a larger inner diameter, compared with those in the fringe region. The outer diameter distribution of tubes in the central region is narrower than that of tubes in the fringe region, while the former has a smaller peak value than the latter. For the nanoparticles, they exhibit a different behaviour from the tubes existing in the same region. The difference between the microstructure of tubes or particles in the two regions is attributed to the different temperatures and temperature gradients during their formation.     

Tensile loading of ropes of single wall carbon nanotubes and their mechanical properties

The mechanical response of 15 single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) ropes under tensile load was measured. For 8 of these ropes strain data were obtained and they broke at strain values of 5.3% or lower. The force-strain data are well fit by a model that assumes the load is carried by the SWCNTs on the perimeter of each rope. This model provides an average breaking strength of SWCNTs on the perimeter of each rope; the 15 values range from 13 to 52 GPa (mean 30 GPa). Based on the same model the 8 average Young's modulus values determined range from 320 to 1470 GPa (mean 1002 GPa).     

对一道典型力学问题的思考

分析了用悬线将一重球悬挂于天花板下,然后拉重球下方的另一悬线,此后两根悬线谁先断裂这一典型力学问题.结果表明,当拉动悬线的速度v小于某一临界速度Vc时,球上方悬线先断裂;当v>Vc时,则情况较为复杂,具体是上方悬线断裂还是下方悬线断裂取决于悬线能承受的极限张力Fm;当v>>Vc时,选取具有合适的Fm值的悬线,可使得球下方的悬线先断裂.     

Performance of cryogenic probes as a function of ionic strength and sample tube geometry

The pursuit for more sensitive NMR probes culminated with development of the cryogenic cooled NMR probe. A key factor for the sensitivity is the overall resistance of RF circuitry and sample. Lowering the coil temperature to approximately 25 K and the use of superconducting coil material has greatly reduced the resistance contribution of the hardware. However, the resistance of a salty sample remains the same and evolves as the major factor determining the signal-to-noise ratio. Several approaches have been proposed to reduce the resistance contribution of the sample. These range from encapsulating proteins in a water cavity formed by reverse micelles in low viscosity fluids to the optimal selection of low mobility, low conductivity buffer ions. Here we demonstrate that changing the sample diameter has a pronounced effect on the sample resistance and this results in dramatic improvements of the signal-to-noise ratio and shorter pi/2 pulses. We determined these parameters for common 5 mm NMR tubes under different experimental conditions and compared them to the 2, 3 and 4 mm tubes, in addition, 5mm Shigemi tubes were included since these are widely used. We demonstrate benefits and applicability of studying NMR samples with up to 4M salt concentrations in cryogenic probes. Under high salt conditions, best results in terms of short pi/2 pulses and high signal-to-noise ratios are obtained using 2 or 3mm NMR tubes, especially when limited sample is available. The 4 mm tube is preferred when sample amounts are abundant at intermediate salt conditions.     

Force barriers for membrane tube formation

We used optical tweezers to measure the force-extension curve for the formation of tubes from giant vesicles. We show that a significant force barrier exists for the formation of tubes, which increases linearly with the radius of the area on which the pulling force is exerted. The tubes form through a first-order transition with accompanying hysteresis. We confirm these results with Monte Carlo simulations and theoretical calculations. Whether membrane tubes can be formed in, for example, biological cells, thus depends on the details of how forces are applied.