Thermal Emission Spectra from Individual Suspended Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

We study the thermal emission spectra of individual suspended carbon nanotubes induced by electrical heating. Semiconducting and metallic devices exhibit different spectra, based on their distinctive band structures. These spectra are compared with the ideal blackbody emission spectrum. In the visible wavelength range, the thermal emission spectra of semiconducting devices agree well with Planck's law, while the spectra of metallic devices show an additional peak between 1.5 and 1.9 eV. In the near-infrared wavelength range, the semiconducting nanotubes exhibit a peak around 1 eV. These additional peaks are attributed to the E11M and E22SC transitions that are thermally driven under these high applied bias voltages. These peaks show a strong polarization dependence, while the blackbody tail is unpolarized, which provides further evidence for electron-hole recombination in thermal emission. For semiconducting devices, the temperature of the nanotube is fit to Planck's law and compared with the temperatures obtained from the G band and 2D band Raman downshifts, as well as the anti-Stokes/Stokes intensity ratio. For devices showing thermal non-equilibrium, the electron temperature agrees well with G+ downshift but deviates from G_ downshift.