Band structures of carbon nanotube with spin–orbit coupling interaction

Abstract

We explore the band structures of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with two types of spin–orbit couplings. The obtained results indicate that weak Rashba spin–orbit coupling interaction can lead to the breaking of four-fold degeneracy in all tubes even though without the intrinsic SO coupling. The asymmetric splitting between conduction bands and valence bands is caused by both SO couplings at the same time. When the ratio of Rashba spin–orbit coupling to the intrinsic spin–orbit coupling is larger than 3, metallic zigzag nanotube is always metallic conductor, on the contrary it becomes semiconducting properties. However, only when this ratio is equal to about 3 or the intrinsic spin–orbit coupling is much weak, the metallic armchair nanotube still holds the metallic behavior in transport.