Phase breaking in three-terminal contacted single-walled carbon nanotube bundles

The three-terminal electrical transport through single-walled carbon nanotu be bundles with low resistive metal contacts is investigated at room temper ature. After correcting for the lead resistance, two-probe resistances clos e to the value expected for a metallic single-walled carbon nanotube are fo und. Analysis of the experimental data in the frame of the Landauer-Buttike r formalism reveals the phase- and momentum-randomizing effect of the third electrode, which is at floating potential, on the quasiballistic transport . Within this model, the phase-coherence length of the charge carriers is e stimated to be approximate to 300 nm at room temperature.