Graphene and Carbon Nanotubes: Ultrafast Optics and Relaxation Dynamics

A better understanding of the ultrafast relaxation dynamics of excited carriers is crucial for designing and engineering novel carbon-based optoelectronic devices. This book introduces the reader to the ultrafast nanoworld of graphene and carbon nanotubes including their unique properties and future perspectives. The authors review the recent progress in this field by combining theoretical and experimental achievements on microscopic processes in carbon nanostructures. The opening part provides the theoretical framework for the characterization of nanomaterials. Recent experimental breakthroughs as well as techniques on pump-probe spectroscopy accessing the ultrafast carrier relaxation are reviewed within a guest contribution by Stephan Winnerl. The main part is devoted to electronic properties of grapheme and nanotubes. Here, ultrafast Coulomb- and phonon-induced relaxation dynamics is discussed. The second part deals with optical properties focusing on absorption spectra of semiconducting, metallic, and functionalized nanotubes.

This volume offers a clear theoretical foundation, which is based on microscopic equations derived within an in-depth appendix including the formalism of second quantization as well as mean-field and many-particle correlation effects. By combining both theory and experiment and presenting a review of recent achievements in the field of optics and relaxation dynamics, the book addresses a broad audience from graduate students to researchers in physics, materials science, and electrical engineering.

A better understanding of the ultrafast relaxation dynamics of excited carriers is crucial for designing and engineering novel carbon-based optoelectronic devices. This book introduces the reader to the ultrafast nanoworld of graphene and carbon nanotubes including their unique properties and future perspectives. The authors review the recent progress in this field by combining theoretical and experimental achievements on microscopic processes in carbon nanostructures. The opening part provides the theoretical framework for the characterization of nanomaterials. Recent experimental breakthroughs as well as techniques on pump-probe spectroscopy accessing the ultrafast carrier relaxation are reviewed within a guest contribution by Stephan Winnerl. The main part is devoted to electronic properties of grapheme and nanotubes. Here, ultrafast Coulomb- and phonon-induced relaxation dynamics is discussed. The second part deals with optical properties focusing on absorption spectra of semiconducting, metallic, and functionalized nanotubes.

This volume offers a clear theoretical foundation, which is based on microscopic equations derived within an in-depth appendix including the formalism of second quantization as well as mean-field and many-particle correlation effects. By combining both theory and experiment and presenting a review of recent achievements in the field of optics and relaxation dynamics, the book addresses a broad audience from graduate students to researchers in physics, materials science, and electrical engineering.