Exciton resonances quench the photoluminescence of zigzag carbon nanotubes.

We show that the photoluminescence intensity of single-walled carbon nanotubes is much stronger in tubes with large chiral angles--armchair tubes--because exciton resonances make the luminescence of zigzag tubes intrinsically weak. This exciton-exciton resonance depends on the electronic structure of the tubes and is found more often in nanotubes of the +1 family. Armchair tubes do not necessarily grow preferentially with present growth techniques; they just have stronger luminescence. Our analysis allows us to normalize photoluminescence intensities and find the abundance of nanotube chiralities in macroscopic samples.