Theory of intraband plasmons in doped carbon nanotubes: Rolled surface-plasmons of graphene

A single-wall carbon nanotube possesses two different types of plasmons specified by the wavenumbers in the azimuthal and axial directions. The azimuthal plasmon that is caused by interband transitions has been studied, while the effect of charge doping is unknown. In this paper, we show that when nanotubes are heavily doped, intraband transitions cause the azimuthal plasmons to appear as a plasmon resonance in the near-infrared region of the absorption spectra, which is absent for light doping due to the screening effect. The axial plasmons that are inherent in the cylindrical waveguide structures of nanotubes account for the absorption peak of the metallic nanotube observed in the terahertz region. The excitation of axial (azimuthal) plasmons requires a linearly polarized light parallel (perpendicular) to the tube's axis. Published by AIP Publishing.