Superfluidity Meets the Solid State: Frictionless Mass Transport through a (5,5) Carbon Nanotube

Area of Science:

• Quantum phenomena
• Condensed matter physics
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Superfluidity enables frictionless motion of particles in superfluids like helium-4.
• Landau's criterion explains this phenomenon based on energy and momentum conservation, forbidding scattering below a critical speed.
• Existing models for nanoscale friction are primarily classical.

Purpose of the Study:

• To predict frictionless motion of a helium atom in a carbon nanotube (CNT).
• To explore the applicability of Landau's superfluidity criterion beyond traditional superfluids.
• To establish a solid-state analog for superfluidity in nanoscale systems.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical prediction based on Landau's criterion.
• Analysis of elementary excitation modes (plasmons and phonons) in (5,5) carbon nanotubes.
• Modeling the interaction between helium atoms and CNT excitations.

Main Results:

• Frictionless motion of a helium atom is predicted in a (5,5) carbon nanotube.
• The quasilinear dispersion of plasmon and phonon modes in the CNT acts as a solid-state analog to superfluid excitations.
• Landau's criterion is shown to be applicable to this nanoscale solid-state system.

Conclusions:

• Carbon nanotubes can exhibit superfluid-like behavior, enabling frictionless motion.
• Landau's criterion for superfluidity can be extended to nanoscale solid-state systems.
• This work may lead to new classical descriptions for nanoscale friction phenomena.