Electron Gas In High-Field Nanoscopic Transport: Metallic Carbon Nanotubes

Nanotube structures are unprecedented in their stability and current-carrying capacity at intense driving fields. A comprehensive understanding of electron conduction from equilibrium through to the high-driving-field regime is needed. We present a microscopically conserving quantum-kinetic description of transport for ohmically contacted carbon nanotubes. The approach is computationally straightforward and can describe nonequilibrium response over a wide range of parameters. We have analyzed the interplay of degeneracy and scattering dynamics on gate-controlled conduction in the one-dimensional channel, and have determined transconductances.