We have calculated the electric field around and on the surface of an open thick-wall carbon nanotube (CNT) of height h, external radius R, and wall thickness w. To accomplish that we simulate the CNT as a vertical array of touching toroids, each of external radius R and cross section radius w/2, and then we express the problem in toroidal coordinates. From our calculations we obtain the enhancement factor γ as a function of h, R, and w. By fitting to our numerical results we obtain an empirical but simple formula for γ, which extrapolates to that of a closed CNT in the limiting case of w=R.

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