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 order ≃10−2 V/μm.
@article{arxiv.1104.2811,
title = {Polarons in suspended carbon nanotubes},
author = {I. Snyman and Yu. V. Nazarov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1104.2811},
year = {2013}
}