Oscillating chiral currents in nanotubes: A route to nanoscale magnetic test tubes
Absztrakt:
With a view to optimizing the design of carbon-nanotube (CNT) windmills
and to maximizing the internal magnetic field generated by chiral
currents, we present analytical results for the group-velocity
components of an electron flux through chiral carbon nanotubes. Chiral
currents are shown to exhibit a rich behavior and can even change sign
and oscillate as the energy of the electrons is increased. We find that
the transverse velocity and associated angular momentum of electrons
are a maximum for nonmetallic CNTs with a chiral angle of 18 degrees.
Such CNTs are therefore the optimal choice for CNT windmills and also
generate the largest internal magnetic field for a given longitudinal
current. For a longitudinal current of order 10(-4) A, this field can
be of order 10(-1) T, which is sufficient to produce interesting
spintronic effects and a significant contribution to the
self-inductance.