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Science 6 May 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5723, pp. 838 - 841
DOI: 10.1126/science.1110265
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Reports

The Optical Resonances in Carbon Nanotubes Arise from Excitons

Feng Wang,1* Gordana Dukovic,2* Louis E. Brus,2 Tony F. Heinz1{dagger}

Optical transitions in carbon nanotubes are of central importance for nanotube characterization. They also provide insight into the nature of excited states in these one-dimensional systems. Recent work suggests that light absorption produces strongly correlated electron-hole states in the form of excitons. However, it has been difficult to rule out a simpler model in which resonances arise from the van Hove singularities associated with the one-dimensional bond structure of the nanotubes. Here, two-photon excitation spectroscopy bolsters the exciton picture. We found binding energies of ~400 millielectron volts for semiconducting single-walled nanotubes with 0.8-nanometer diameters. The results demonstrate the dominant role of many-body interactions in the excited-state properties of one-dimensional systems.

1 Departments of Physics and Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, 538 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA.
2 Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, 538 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tony.heinz{at}columbia.edu

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