Shell structures and electron-spin configurations in single-walled carbon nanotube quantum dots

We have carried out low-temperature transport measurements in individual carbon nanotube quantum dots. Two- and four-electron shell structures have been carefully investigated, and the magnetic field evolution of the single-electron transport spectroscopy has revealed the electron-spin configurations in the dot. Our experimental results reveal that the carbon nanotube quantum dot is an artificial atom that exhibits shell filling and is the simplest example of the Hund's rule. (c) 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.