Tuesday July 5, 2005
9 AM - 10:30 AM
ENG B-29

Office Hours:
Wednesday July 6, 2005
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
ENG B-18

"Optical properties of carbon nanotubes"
Prof. Anna Swan
Boston University

I will give a brief introduction on the many intriguing properties of carbon nanotubes and on some current and potential applications. A tantalizing aspect of carbon nanotubes is the variation in electronic properties with tube chirality; the existence of both metallic and semiconducting species with varying bandgap stemming from the combination of the unique electronic structure of graphite and from quantization of the electronic states. I will discuss electronic and optical properties in more detail and how for a quantitative agreement, coulomb exchange and excitonic effects need to be considered. A review of recent experimental results and measurement techniques will be presented, as well as outstanding questions and challenges in the field.