A detailed comparison was made between theoretical predictions of electron scattering processes in metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes with defects and experimental data obtained by scanning tunneling spectroscopy of Ar+ irradiated nanotubes. A formalism was first developed for studying the quantum transport properties of defected nanotubes in the presence of source and drain contacts and a scanning tunneling microscopy tip. The formalism was based upon a field theoretical approach for describing low-energy electrons. The lack of translational invariance induced by defects was accounted for within the so-called extended k•p approximation, which allowed for multi-component scattering with new scattering channels that were associated with exchanged momenta larger than the difference between the K points of the nanotube. The theoretical model reproduced the features of the particle-in-a-box like states observed experimentally. A comparison between theoretical and experimental Fourier-transformed local density of state maps yielded clear signatures for intervalley and intravalley electron scattering processes; depending upon the tube chirality.

Defect-Induced Multicomponent Electron Scattering in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. D.Bercioux, G.Buchs, H.Grabert, O.Gröning: Physical Review B, 2011, 83[16], 165439