We propose a laser-driven pump for atomic transport through carbon nanotubes. A two beam coherent control is used to inject carrier population into the lowest unoccupied nanotube bands, which is anisotropic in momentum space. The resulting electron current moves intercalated atoms along the tube. This system is a unique prototype of a single atom deposition machine which overcomes the loading problem of the scanning tunneling microscope.

• Received 31 August 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.5373