Spontaneous decay of excited atomic states near a carbon nanotube

摘要

Spontaneous decay process of an excited atom placed inside or outside (nearthe surface) a carbon nanotube is analyzed. Calculations have been performedfor various achiral nanotubes. The effect of the nanotube surface has beendemonstrated to dramatically increase the atomic spontaneous decay rate -- by 6to 7 orders of magnitude compared with that of the same atom in vacuum. Such anincrease is associated with the nonradiative decay via surface excitations inthe nanotube.