A flat sheet of atoms can act as a kind of antenna that absorbs light and funnels its energy into carbon nanotubes, making them glow brightly. This advance could aid the development of tiny future light-emitting devices that will exploit quantum effects.
Carbon nanotubes resemble very thin, hollow wires with a diameter of just a nanometer or so. They can generate light in various ways. For example, a laser pulse can excite negatively charged electrons within the material, leaving positively charged "holes." These opposite charges can pair up to form an energetic state known as an exciton, which may travel relatively far along a nanotube before releasing its energy as light.
In principle, this phenomenon could be exploited to make highly efficient nanoscale light-emitting devices.
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