Electronic and transport properties of a carbon-atom chain in the core of semiconducting carbon nanotubes

Using the tight-binding calculations, we have studied electronic and transport properties of the semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SSWNTs) doped by a chain of carbon-atoms, which can be well controlled by density of the encapsulated carbon atoms. When it is lower, weak coupling between the chain atoms and the tube produces flat bands near the Fermi level, which means a great possibility of superconductivity and ferromagnetism for the combined system. The weak coupling also leads to a significant conductance at the Fermi level, which is contributed by both of the tube and the encapsulated carbon-atom chain. lncreasing density of the chain carbon atoms, the flat bands near the Fermi level disappear, and the current may be carried only by the carbon-atom chain, thus making the system become an ideal one-dimensional quantum wire with its conducting chain enclosed by a SWNT insulator. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.