  The electronic properties of as-prepared and purified unoriented
single-walled carbon nanotube films were studied by transmission measurements
over a broad frequency range (far-infrared up to visible) as a function of
temperature (15 K - 295 K) and external pressure (up to 8 GPa). Both the
as-prepared and the purified SWCNT films exhibit nearly temperature-independent
properties. With increasing pressure the low-energy absorbance decreases
suggesting an increasing carrier localization due to pressure-induced
deformations. The energy of the optical transitions in the SWCNTs decreases
with increasing pressure, which can be attributed to pressure-induced
hybridization and symmetry-breaking effects. We find an anomaly in the
pressure-induced shift of the optical transitions at $\sim$2 GPa due to a
structural phase transition.
