Crossover from Peierls distortion to one-dimensional superconductivity in arrays of (5,0) carbon nanotubes

Abstract

By performing second-order renormalization group analysis on thin arrays of 4-Angstrom (5,0) carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded in aluminophosphate-five (AFI) zeolite crystals, we identify singlet superconductivity instability to be dominant at low temperatures, attributable to the screening of the electron-electron Coulomb interaction in the array configuration. Our analysis also shows that there is a crossover as the system scales to lower energy/temperatures, whereby one-dimensional (1D) superconductivity is the ground state, but the response function of the Peierls distortion/charge density wave (CDW) order dominates at the higher energy regime. This crossover behavior indicates that for a thin array of (5,0) CNTs the CDW order may represent an excited state of the array, so that the CDW characteristics can appear at finite temperatures, in conjunction with 1D superconductivity. Experimental results are presented to support this interpretation. © 2011 American Physical Society.