Measurements of the Population Lifetime of D Band and G′ Band Phonons in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

We report time-resolved incoherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering measurements of the dynamics of the D and G′ bands in single-walled carbon nanotubes at excitation energies of 1.51 and 1.63 eV over the temperature range 4–330 K. The measurements indicate that the population lifetimes (∼1 ps) of the phonons responsible for the D band are dependent on nanotube type. The temperature dependencies are consistent with anharmonic decay of the phonons into one low (–1) and one high energy phonon.