Model of plasmon excitations in a bundle and a two-dimensional array of nanotubes

Abstract

We calculate the plasma excitations in a bundle as well as a two-dimensional (2D) periodic array of aligned parallel multishell nanotubes on a substrate. The carbon nanotubes are oriented perpendicular to the substrate. The model we use for the system is an electron gas confined to the surface of an infinitely long cylinder embedded in a background dielectric medium. Electron tunneling between individual tubules is neglected. We include the Coulomb interaction between electrons on the same tubule and on different tubules for the same nanotube and neighboring nanotubes. We present a self-consistent field theory for the dispersion equation for intrasubband and intersubband plasmon excitations. For both the bundle and 2D array of aligned parallel nanotubes, the dispersion relation of the collective modes is determined by a three-dimensional wave vector with components in the direction of the nanotube axes and in the transverse directions. The dispersion equation is solved numerically for a single-wall nanotube 2D array as well as a bundle, and the plasmon excitation energies are obtained as a function of wave vector. The intertube Coulomb interaction couples plasmons with different angular momenta $m$ in individual nanotubes, lifting the $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}m$ degeneracy of the single-nanotube modes. This effect is analyzed numerically as a function of the separation between the tubules. We show that the translational symmetry of the lattice is maintained in the plasmon spectrum for the periodic array, and the plasmon energies have a periodic dependence on the transverse wave vector ${\mathbf{q}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$. For the bundle, the Coulomb interaction between nanotubes gives rise to optical plasmon excitations.