Coupling of Spin and Orbital Motion of Electrons in Carbon Nanotubes
| dc.creator | Kuemmeth, F. | |
| dc.creator | Ilani, S. | |
| dc.creator | Ralph, D. C. | |
| dc.creator | McEuen, P. L. | |
| dc.date | 2008-02-10 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T09:30:22Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T09:30:22Z | |
| dc.description | Electrons in atoms possess both spin and orbital degrees of freedom. In non-relativistic quantum mechanics, these are independent, resulting in large degeneracies in atomic spectra. However, relativistic effects couple the spin and orbital motion leading to the well-known fine structure in their spectra. The electronic states in defect-free carbon nanotubes (NTs) are widely believed to be four-fold degenerate, due to independent spin and orbital symmetries, and to also possess electron-hole symmetry. Here we report measurements demonstrating that in clean NTs the spin and orbital motion of electrons are coupled, thereby breaking all of these symmetries. This spin-orbit coupling is directly observed as a splitting of the four-fold degeneracy of a single electron in ultra-clean quantum dots. The coupling favours parallel alignment of the orbital and spin magnetic moments for electrons and anti-parallel alignment for holes. Our measurements are consistent with recent theories that predict the existence of spin-orbit coupling in curved graphene and describe it as a spin-dependent topological phase in NTs. Our findings have important implications for spin-based applications in carbon-based systems, entailing new design principles for the realization of qubits in NTs and providing a mechanism for all-electrical control of spins in NTs. | |
| dc.description | 14 pages, 6 figures | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/0802.1351 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/0802.1351 | |
| dc.identifier | Nature 452, 448-452 (27 March 2008) | |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.1038/nature06822 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/158103 | |
| dc.subject | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics | |
| dc.title | Coupling of Spin and Orbital Motion of Electrons in Carbon Nanotubes | |
| dc.type | text |