Coherent phonon dynamics in semiconducting carbon nanotubes: a quantitative study of electron-phonon coupling.

We excite and detect coherent phonons in semiconducting (6,5) carbon nanotubes via a sub-10-fs pump-probe technique. Simulation of the amplitude and phase profile via time-dependent wave packet theory yields excellent agreement with experimental results under the assumption of molecular excitonic states and allows determining the electron-phonon coupling strength for the two dominant vibrational modes.