Suspended carbon nanotube quantum wires with two gates.

Suspended single-walled carbon nanotube devices comprised of high-quality electrical contacts and two electrostatic gates per device have been prepared. Compared to nanotubes pinned on substrates, the suspended devices exhibit little hysteresis related to environmental factors and act as cleaner Fabry-Perot interferometers or single-electron transistors. The high-field saturation currents in the suspended nanotubes related to optical phonon or zone-boundary phonon scattering are significantly lower due to the lack of efficient heat sinking. The multiple-gate design may also facilitate future investigations into the electromechanical properties of nanotube quantum systems.