Using empirical-potential and tight-binding models, a study was made of the structure and stability of irradiation-induced atomic-scale defects in the walls of carbon nanotubes. The temporal evolution of such defects was modeled, and their lifetimes at various temperatures were calculated. Scanning-tunneling microscopic images of irradiated nanotubes containing such defects were also simulated. The simulations indicated that, at low temperatures, the defects survived long enough to be detected by scanning-tunneling microscopy and that various defects manifested themselves in the images in differing ways. This made it possible to distinguish the defects experimentally.

Signatures of Irradiation-Induced Defects in Scanning-Tunneling Microscopy Images of Carbon Nanotubes. A.V.Krasheninnikov, K.Nordlund: Physics of the Solid State, 2002, 44[3], 470-2