We theoretically study the electronic structure, transport, and optical properties for a zigzag single-wall carbon nanotube (CNT) connected to two normal conductor leads under the irradiation of an external electromagnetic field at low temperatures, with particular emphasis on the features of high-frequency response. Using the standard nonequilibrium Green’s function techniques, we examine the time-averaged density of states (DOS), the conductivity, the dielectric function, and the electron energy loss spectra for the system with photon polarization parallel with the tunneling current direction, respectively. Through some numerical examples, it is shown that the DOS is strongly dependent on the incident electron energy, the strength, and frequency of the applied field. For higher electron energies in comparison with lead-nanotube coupling energy, the system conductance decreases with increasing field strength and increases with increasing field frequency, respectively, and shows some oscillation structures. Moreover, the optical functions for the system have also a rich structure with the variation of field frequency. It may demonstrate that this transport dependence on the external field parameters can be used to give the energy spectra information of CNTs and to detect the high-frequency microwave irradiation.