Figure 1

(a) Simplified scheme of the sample holder and electric circuit used for the experiments described in this Letter. Only the gold tips of the fixed (left) and mobile (right) parts have been drawn. (b) HR image of a DWNT. The side walls appear as black fringes. (c) Image of a contact of a MWNT with the droplet of mercury.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 2

Simultaneous structure and transport properties observation of a DWNT. (a) Experimental diffraction pattern of a DWNT. The irislike ring is an artifact. Note the layered line structure of the diffraction pattern. The white arrow indicates the equatorial line, and the gray ones indicate some other intensity lines. (b) Current-voltage characteristic of the same tube. Ohmic behavior is visible up to 0.5 V. Insets: Diffraction geometry. Up: The electron beam is oriented along $X$. $(X^{\prime },Y^{\prime },Z^{\prime })$ is the referential defined with respect to the MWNT. The diffraction pattern is recorded in the $YZ$ plane. Down: Given $\Gamma$, the unknown position of an arbitrary carbon atom (gray dot) of a given sheet of a MWNT with respect to the electron beam is characterized by a translation distance $Z_0^{\prime }$ and a rotation angle ${\Phi }_0^{\prime }$ with respect to the tube axis.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 3

Comparison between experimental and theoretical diffraction patterns. Left upper panel: experimental diffraction pattern of Fig. 2. Right upper panel: simulation of the $(51,34)@(53,43)$ DWNT ($\Gamma \approx 8°$). Four (distorted) hexagons linking the first maximum intensity points of different lines can be distinguished. One is drawn as a guide for the eyes. These points are reminiscent of the $[100{]}^{*}$ and $[010{]}^{*}$ spots of four graphene sheets, two per tube constituting the DWNT. Inset: Scheme of the structure of the $(51,34)@(53,43)$ DWNT. Lower panel: Definition of the periods $e$ and $E$ and the characteristic angles $\beta$ for the two tubes of the DWNT. For each tube, $\beta$ is defined as the angle between the direction of a line linking the center of the diffraction pattern and the first maximum of the line nearest to the equatorial line, and the equatorial line.Reuse & Permissions