On the dynamics of confined particles: a laser test

Reduced dimensionality systems (RDS) are materials extending along one or two dimensions much more than the other(s). The degrees of freedom of the small dimension are not explored by the electrons since their energy is very large. The time dependent wave function of a particle in a short nanotube, taken as a paradigm of the RDS family, is calculated by solving the Klein–Gordon equation; the confining condition produces a small change in the mass of the particles and of the energy levels. These changes are of relativistic origin and therefore small, but can be measured by use of a weak resonant laser field which produces cumulative effects in the time development of the wave function. The shift of the energy of the levels are within today’s spectroscopy capacity.