Charge-compensated, semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube thin film as an electrically configurable optical medium

A two-terminal semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (SC-SWNT) film in contact with an ionic liquid allows the realization of an extremely high density of holes, inducing a strong position-dependent electromodulation of the interband and excitonic transitions as a result of the position-dependent shift of the SWNT Fermi level. Electrical control of the optical transmission suggests applications of the SC-SWNT thin films as electrically configurable optical media, while the wide spectral range of the electro-optical modulation, which extends from the far-infrared to the visible, provides a viable approach to large-area electrochromic smart windows.