Translocation events in a single-walled carbon nanotube

Translocation of DNA oligomers through a single-walled carbon nanotube was demonstrated recently. Translocation events are accompanied by giant current pulses, the origin of which remains obscure. Here, we show that the introduction of a nucleotide, guanosine triphosphate, alone into the input reservoir of a carbon nanotube nanofluidic device also gives giant current pulses. Taken together with data on oligomer translocation, these new results suggest that the pulse width has a nonlinear, power-law dependence on the number of nucleotides in a DNA molecule. We have also measured the time for the onset of DNA translocation pulses after bias reversal, finding that the time for the onset of translocation is directly proportional to the period of the bias reversal.