Excitons in boron nitride nanotubes: Dimensionality effects

We show that the optical absorption spectra of boron nitride (BN) nanotubes are dominated by strongly bound excitons. Our first-principles calculations indicate that the binding energy for the first and dominant excitonic peak depends sensitively on the dimensionality of the system, varying from 0.7...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Wirtz, Ludger, Marini, Andrea, Rubio, Angel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2006
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/97925
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/97925
Access Level:acceso abierto
Descripción
Sumario:We show that the optical absorption spectra of boron nitride (BN) nanotubes are dominated by strongly bound excitons. Our first-principles calculations indicate that the binding energy for the first and dominant excitonic peak depends sensitively on the dimensionality of the system, varying from 0.7 eV in bulk hexagonal BN via 2.1 eV in the single sheet of BN to more than 3 eV in the hypothetical (2,2) tube. The strongly localized nature of this exciton dictates the fast convergence of its binding energy with increasing tube diameter towards the sheet value. The absolute position of the first excitonic peak is almost independent of the tube radius and system dimensionality. This provides an explanation for the observed >optical gap> constancy for different tubes and bulk hexagonal BN. © 2006 The American Physical Society.