Friedel Oscillations in Carbon Nanotube Quantum Dots and Superlattices

Interface states of all-metallic carbon nanotube quantum dots and superlattices are studied within a tight-binding model. We focus on achiral systems made by connecting armchair (n, n) and zigzag (2n, 0) tubes with a full ring of n pentagon-heptagon topological defects. We show that the coupling between interface states, which arise from the topological defects, reflects the existence of the Friedel oscillations in the (n, n) tube, with an unusually large decay exponent. We expect this interaction to be important for the understanding of other physical properties, such as selective dot growth; magnetic interaction through carbon tubes or optical spectroscopy of interface states.