We numerically investigate excitonic complexes in semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (sSWCNTs) using the diffusion Monte Carlo method. These complexes include the neutral polyexcitons (${\mathrm{X}}_n$), consisting of $n$ excitons, and charged polyexcitons (${\mathrm{X}}_n^{-}$), containing an additional electron. To this end, we develop an effective one-dimensional (1D) model that incorporates form factors, screened carrier interactions, and the spin and valley internal degrees of freedom of electrons and holes. We find that neutral polyexcitons are stable up to $n=4$, while charged polyexcitons remain stable up to $n=3$, independent of interaction strength. The energy needed to remove an exciton from ${\mathrm{X}}_n^{-}$ is larger than that from ${\mathrm{X}}_{n+1}$. This unusual result arises from the screening of the short-range part of the electron-hole attraction and the antiscreening of the long-range part of the electron-electron (or hole-hole) repulsion. Analysis of multiparticle correlation functions reveals that these complexes resemble an electron-hole droplet rather than a rigid excitonic molecule, although electrons still act as a glue binding neighboring hole pairs. The separation energies of sSWCNTs exhibit a convex upward $n$-dependence, in sharp contrast to the linear-in-$n$ increase found in 2D multivalley semiconductors, which originates from the 1D geometry of the system that limits the formation of equivalent covalent bonds among all hole pairs.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article

• Biexcitons
• Excitons
• Trions
• Valley degrees of freedom
• 1-dimensional systems
• Carbon family
• Nanotubes
• Diffusion quantum Monte Carlo