Fine-structured field emission images originating from coherently scattering of electrons within a multi-walled carbon nanotube

High resolution field emission image of a single multi-walled carbon nanotube was studied by field emission microscopy. The images contain patterns consisting of rather ordered bright fringes. We propose a model based on coherent electron scattering to explain the observed field emission image. The emitted electrons will undergo coherent scattering within the cap region of a multi-wall carbon nanotube, which may be viewed as elastic scattering by a polycrystalline structure with an infinite size. This study is helpful for understanding the physical mechanism of field emission of carbon nanotube.