Transient absorption spectroscopy of excitons in an individual suspended metallic carbon nanotube

We present femtosecond transient absorption measurements of individual metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) to elucidate environmental effects on their spectroscopy and dynamics. Isolated suspended SWNTs were located using atomic force microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy was employed to determine the chiral index of select nanotubes. Transient absorption spectra of the SWNTs were obtained by recording transient absorption images at different probe wavelengths. This unique experimental approach removes sample heterogeneity in ultrafast measurements of these complex materials and provides a direct means to unravel the role of the substrate. The results show a ∼40 meV red shift of the lowest exciton transition, which is attributed to dielectric screening effects by the substrate. Energy relaxation in individual metallic nanotubes was observed with decay constants of a few hundred fs and about 10 ps. We attributed the fast and slow decay components to carrier scattering by optical and acoustic phonons, respectively.