Letter abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 3, 609 - 613 (2008)
Published online: 24 August 2008 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.241
Subject Categories: Carbon nanotubes and fullerenes | Photonic structures and devices
A microcavity-controlled, current-driven, on-chip nanotube emitter at infrared wavelengths
Fengnian Xia1, Mathias Steiner1, Yu-ming Lin1 & Phaedon Avouris1
Abstract
Recent studies of the optical properties of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 suggest that these truly nanometre-scale systems have a promising future in nanophotonics, in addition to their well-known potential in electronics7, 8. Semiconducting single-walled nanotubes have a direct, diameter-dependent bandgap8 and can be excited readily by current injection, which makes them attractive as nano-emitters. The electroluminescence is spectrally broad, spatially non-directional, and the radiative yield is low5, 9. Here we report the monolithic integration of a single, electrically excited, semiconducting nanotube transistor with a planar 
/2 microcavity10, 11, 12, 13, thus taking an important first step in the development of nanotube-based nanophotonic devices. The spectral full-width at half-maximum of the emission is reduced from 
300 to 40 nm at a cavity resonance of 1.75 
m, and the emission becomes highly directional. The maximum enhancement of the radiative rate is estimated to be 4. We also show that both the optically and electrically excited luminescence of single-walled nanotubes involve the same E11 excitonic transition.
- Department of Nanometer Scale Science and Technology, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, 1101 Kitchawan Rd, PO Box 218, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA
Correspondence to: Fengnian Xia1 e-mail: fxia@us.ibm.com
Correspondence to: Phaedon Avouris1 e-mail: avouris@us.ibm.com
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