Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Resonance Raman Spectroscopy of Extreme Nanowires and Other 1D Systems
Published on: April 28, 2016
Radiative lifetime of excitons in carbon nanotubes
Vasili Perebeinos1, J Tersoff, Phaedon Avouris
1IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA. vperebe@us.ibm.com
Abstract:
We calculate the radiative lifetime and energy bandstructure of excitons in semiconducting carbon nanotubes within a tight-binding approach including the electron-hole correlations via the Bethe-Salpeter equation. In the limit of rapid interband thermalization, the radiative decay rate is maximized at intermediate temperatures and decreases at low temperature because the lowest-energy excitons are optically forbidden. The intrinsic phonons cannot scatter excitons between optically active and forbidden bands, so sample-dependent extrinsic effects that break the symmetries can play a central role. We calculate the diameter-dependent energy splittings between singlet and triplet excitons of different symmetries and the resulting dependence of radiative lifetime on temperature and tube diameter.
Related Concept Videos
Photoluminescence: Fluorescence and Phosphorescence
A pair of electrons in a...
Atomic Nuclei: Types of Nuclear Relaxation
In spin–lattice or longitudinal relaxation, the excited spins exchange energy with the surrounding lattice as they return to the lower energy level. Among several mechanisms that contribute to spin–lattice relaxation, magnetic dipolar interactions are significant. Here, the excited nucleus transfers energy to a nearby...
Deactivation Processes: Jablonski Diagram
Variables Affecting Phosphorescence and Fluorescence
Molecular Spectroscopy: Absorption and Emission
Radioactive Decay and Radiometric Dating
