Electronic response and bandstructure modulation of carbon nanotubes in a transverse electrical field

The electronic properties of carbon nanotubes in a uniform transverse field are investigated within a single orbital tight-binding model. For doped nanotubes, the dielectric function is found to depend not only on symmetry of the tube, but also on radius and Fermi level position. Bandgap opening/closing is predicted for zigzag tubes, while it is found that armchair tubes always remain metallic, which is explained by the symmetry in their configuration. The bandstructures for both types are considerably modified when the field strength is large enough to mix neighboring subbands.