Optical Forces and Light Scattering in Carbon Nanotubes

The ongoing effort towards understanding the physical principles underlying optomechanical forces is an active field of research that offers diverse applications in various fields of technology. The proposed physical model for the radiation pressure exerted on an achiral carbon nanotube (CNT), is formulated using the Maxwell stress tensor. Our model consists of a system of integral equations, describing the scattering pattern of an electromagnetic field (EM) for a single, finite-length, CNT in the THz frequency range. The obtained results from the proposed model, are presented for three cases: I) The optical force exerted on a CNT subjected to a surface EM-mode. II) The optical binding of two parallel non-identical CNT's III) The excitation of a radial breathing mode by the surface EM-mode in a CNT. Our current results can be implemented in the design of CNT-based ion and gas sensors, biosensors, field emission devices, and new types of metamaterials.