**1. Introduction**

Since the discovery of methods for the mass production of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) [1, 2], applications of SWNTs such as transistor devices, biosensing devices, dou‐ ble-layer-type capacitors, transparent electrode films, radio wave absorbents and material hardeners have been studied [3-5]. Large-scale production and improvement of purity of SWNTs by the electric-arc techniques have been developed [6, 7]. However, the efficient production of high-quality and defect-free SWNTs, and metal/semiconductor selected or di‐ ameter-controlled production of SWNTs have not yet been achieved. Therefore, basic study of the various methods of producing SWNTs is still important, by which new high-perform‐ ance routes to producing desired SWNTs are expected to be found.

Here, the production of SWNTs and carbon nanoclusters by the arc discharge method utiliz‐ ing a magnetic field, known as the *J*x*B* arc-jet discharge method, has been studied [8-10]. Al‐ though the application of a steady-state magnetic field to arc discharge is not such a popular method, electromagnetic force can change the flow of hot gas in the arc region and thus con‐ trol the production process of carbon clusters. To realize the large-scale production of car‐ bon clusters by the arc discharge method, a revolver-injection-type *J*x*B* arc-jet producer was successfully developed by our group, by which the continuous mass production of SWNTs and other carbon clusters can be carried out.

As a result, the more efficient production of SWNTs and other carbon clusters compared with conventional arc discharge methods has been achieved. Here, the development of the *J*x*B* arc-jet discharge method and results obtained using the method are described.

© 2013 Mieno and Matsumoto; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2013 Mieno and Matsumoto; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
