Terahertz Spectroscopy of Individual Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as a Probe of Luttinger Liquid Physics.

Luttinger liquid theory predicts that collective electron excitations due to strong electron-electron interactions in a one-dimensional (1D) system will result in a modification of the collective charge-propagation velocity. By utilizing a circuit model for an individual metallic single-walled carbon nanotube as a nanotransmission line, it has been shown that the frequency-dependent terahertz impedance of a carbon nanotube can probe this expected 1D Luttinger liquid behavior. We excite terahertz standing-wave resonances on individual antenna-coupled metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes. The terahertz signal is rectified using the nanotube contact nonlinearity, allowing for a low-frequency readout of the coupled terahertz current. The charge velocity on the nanotube is determined from the terahertz spectral response. Our measurements show that a carbon nanotube can behave as a Luttinger liquid system with charge-propagation velocities that are faster than the Fermi velocity. Understanding what determines the charge velocity in low-dimensional conductors is important for the development of next generation nanodevices.

A plasmonic antenna-coupled superconducting near-IR photon detector.

The extremely small size of plasmonic antennas has made it difficult to integrate them with nanoscale detectors that require electrical leads, as the leads tend to degrade the resonant properties of the antenna. We present a design for integrating a plasmonic antenna with a nanoscale superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) with electrical leads. Numerical simulations demonstrate high-efficiency coupling of 1550 nm incident photons into the sub-wavelength TES. Although we have chosen to design around a TES, this approach is broadly applicable to any dissipative nanoscale device that requires an electrical connection.

Energy loss of the electron system in individual single-walled carbon nanotubes.

We characterize the energy loss of the nonequilibrium electron system in individual metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes at low temperature. Using Johnson noise thermometry, we demonstrate that, for a nanotube with Ohmic contacts, the dc resistance at finite bias current directly reflects the average electron temperature. This enables a straightforward determination of the thermal conductance associated with cooling of the nanotube electron system. In analyzing the temperature- and length-dependence of the thermal conductance, we consider contributions from acoustic phonon emission, optical phonon emission, and hot electron outdiffusion.

Tunable superconducting nanoinductors.

We characterize inductors fabricated from ultra-thin, approximately 100 nm wide strips of niobium (Nb) and niobium nitride (NbN). These nanowires have a large kinetic inductance in the superconducting state. The kinetic inductance scales linearly with the nanowire length, with a typical value of 1 nH µm(-1) for NbN and 44 pH µm(-1) for Nb at a temperature of 2.5 K. We measure the temperature and current dependence of the kinetic inductance and compare our results to theoretical predictions. We also simulate the self-resonant frequencies of these nanowires in a compact meander geometry. These nanowire inductive elements have applications in a variety of microwave frequency superconducting circuits.