Yang Wang

Nanophotonics of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes: Two-dimensional Photonic Crystals and Optical Dipole Antennas Yang Wang

"The work by Wang et al. suggests a host of applications in optoelectronics, for example infrared polarizers or polarization detectors, using arrays in which the MWCNTs have a range of lengths, and wavelength-specific detectors, for which the MWCNTs are fabricated to all have the same desired length. MWCNTs are preferable to SWCNTs for their electrical metallicity and greater mechanical robustness, and their random spacing in the arrays suppresses interference effects. The preparation of the MWCNT arrays could easily be extended to a high-throughput process with the use of established technology. Over the decade-long history of carbon nanotubes there has been substantial investment by the private sector in nanotube research and development: the technology devised by Wang et al. may well spawn optoelectronic applications of considerable commercial significance." --M. S. Dresselhaus, Nature 432, 959 (2004)