Polarons in Suspended Carbon Nanotubes

We prove theoretically the possibility of electric-field controlled polaron formation involving flexural (bending) modes in suspended carbon nanotubes. Upon increasing the field, the ground state of the system with a single extra electron undergoes a first-order phase transition between an extended state and a localized polaron state. For a common experimental setup, the threshold electric field is only of the order of ?5×10-2??V/?m.