Theoretical Analysis of the Faraday Effect in Carbon Nanotubes with Arbitrary Chirality

Abstract

Using tight-binding model with nearest neighbour interactions, the optical properties of carbon nanotubes under the influence of an external magnetic field are analyzed. First, dipole matrix elements for two cases of light polarized parallel as well as perpendicular to the nanotube axis are analyzed. A close form analytic expression for dipole matrix is obtained for carbon nanotubes with arbitrary chirality in the case of light polarized parallel to the nanotube axis. Then the diagonal and off-diagonal elements of the frequency-dependent susceptibility in the presence of an axial magnetic field are investigated. The off-diagonal elements are applied to calculate the interband Faraday rotation and the Verdet constant. These effects should be clearly detectable under realistic conditions using weak magnetic fields.