This proposal was received in response to NSE, NSF-0019. Carbon nanotubes are of interest as electronic conductors because of their unique properties, notably their behavior as 1-D conductors and their ballistic nature over several microns at room temperature. A general picture of electronic conduction in nanotubes is being developed by researchers in the field. Although the transient response of current flow is expected to be quite rapid (picosecond range), present experimental data for conduction properties of nanotubes is primarily obtained at low frequencies or in static measurements. In order to shed light on the fundamental current transport processes in nanotubes, an experimental and theoretical effort is proposed to develop characterization techniques which would allow the measurement of the transient current responses through nanotube conductors. This work will address two issues: i) the integration of nanotube conductors with appropriate high speed photoconductor materials and ii) the development of characterization techniques for nanoscale conductors based on pump/probe measurements using high speed pulsed laser systems. It is expected that the proposed work will shed light on the conduction processes of these interesting electronic materials and provide important capabilities for integration of these materials with other electronic materials, including semiconductor device structures.
