Nonlinear optical vibrations of single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Abstract

We demonstrate a new specific phenomenon of the long-time resonant energy exchange in carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which is realized by two types of optical vibrations, the Circumferential Flexure Mode (CFM) and the Radial Breathing Mode (RBM). We show that the modified nonlinear Schrdinger equation, obtained in the framework of the nonlinear theory of elastic thin shells, allows us to describe the nonlinear dynamics of CNTs for specified frequency bands. Comparative analysis of the oscillations of the CFM and RBM branches shows the qualitative difference of nonlinear effects for these branches. While the nonlinear resonant interaction of the low-frequency modes in the CFM branch leads to energy capture in some domains of the CNT, the same interaction in the RBM branch does not demonstrate any tendency for energy localization. The reason lies in the distinction in the nonlinear terms in the equations of motion. While CFMs are characterized by soft polynomial nonlinearity, RBM dynamics is characterized by hard gradient nonlinearity. Moreover, in contrast to the CFM, the importance of nonlinearity in the case of RBM oscillations decreases as the length to radius ratio increases. Numerical integration of the equations of thin shell theory confirms the results of the analytical study.