We observed an interaction of single-walled carbon nanotube films with obliquely incident nanosecond laser radiation in visible and infrared regions generating unipolar voltage pulses replicating the shape of the laser pulses. The photoelectric signal significantly depends on the laser polarization and has maximum value at the laser beam incidence angle of ±65° and at the film thickness of 350 nm. The results are explained in the framework of the photon-drag effect.

We report on polarization-sensitive direct current photoresponse of nanographite films in a 532–4000 nm spectral range. It is found that irradiation of the nanographite by the nanosecond laser pulses produces the electric current with intensity depending on the incidence angle and polarization of the laser beam. The obtained dependencies of the photoresponse on wavelength and polarization of excitation laser beam are discussed in terms of the surface photogalvanic and photon drag effects.

We present observations of the optical rectification effect in the nanocarbon film, which is excited by nanosecond pulses of a Nd:YAG laser in the absence of an external electric field. Effective second order susceptibility of the film material is found to be 10−6 CGSE, which is higher than that of conventional noncentrosymmetric crystals. The measured ratio of the dc voltage to the laser power is 500 and 650 mV/MW at the wavelengths of 1064 and 532 nm, respectively. This makes the nanocarbon materials a promising alternative to conventional semiconductor-based terahertz radiation sources.

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