Excitons in coupled quantum dots

Properties of excitons in vertically coupled GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots were investigated using the variational method within the envelope function and effective mass approximations. It was found that when the thickness of the spacer layer becomes less than about one exciton Bohr radius, both the exciton binding energy and the fundamental optical transition energy are reduced compared to those in isolated quantum dots. This is a result of increased space extension of exciton due to the penetration of carrier wave functions into the spacer layer and corresponding reduction in confinement energy which dominates over the Coulomb interaction between the electron and the hole.     

Phonon effect on two coupled quantum dots at finite temperature

The quantum oscillations of population in an asymmetric double quantum dots system coupled to a phonon bath are investigated theoretically. It is shown how the environmental temperature has effect on the system.     

Electronic structures in coupled two quantum dots by 3D-mesh Hartree-Fock-Kohn-Sham calculation

To study the electronic structures of quantum dots in the framework of self-interaction-free including three dimensional effects, we adopt the theory of nonlocal effective potential introduced by Kohn and Sham [#!ks65!#]. For utilizing the advantageous point of the real space (3D) mesh method to solve the original nonlinear and nonlocal Hartree-Fock-Kohn-Sham (HFKS)-equation, we introduce a linearization of the equation in the local form by introducing the local Coulomb potentials which depend on explicitly the two single particle states. In practice, for solving the local form HFKS-equation, we use the Car-Parrinello-like relaxation method and the Coulomb potentials are obtained by solving the Poisson equation under proper boundary conditions. Firstly the observed energy gap between triplet- and singlet-states of N = 4 in DBS [#!tarucha96!#] is discussed to reproduce the addition energies and chemical potentials depending the magnetic field. Next the coupling between two-quantum dots in TBS [#!aht97!#] is studied by adding the square barrier between two dots. The spin-degeneracy [#!aht97!#] measured in gate-voltage depending on magnetic field is well reproduced in the limit of small mismatch. Finally, the electronic states in the ring structure are calculated and discussed how the ring size and magnetic field affect to the structures. Received 30 November 2000     

Disappearance of quantum chaos in coupled chaotic quantum dots

Statistical properties of the single electron levels confined in the semiconductor (InAs/GaAs, Si/SiO₂) double quantum dots (DQDs) are considered. We demonstrate that in the electronically coupled chaotic quantum dots the chaos with its level repulsion disappears and the nearest neighbor level statistics becomes Poissonian. This result is discussed in the light of the recently predicted “huge conductance peak” by R.S. Whitney et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 (2009) 186802] in the mirror symmetric DQDs.     

Hole states in artificial molecules formed by vertically coupled Ge/Si quantum dots

In the tight binding approximation, the spatial configuration of the ground state and the binding energy of a hole in a “diatomic” artificial molecule formed by vertically coupled Ge/Si(001) quantum dots are studied. The inhomogeneous spatial distribution of elastic strain arising in the medium due to the lattice mismatch between Ge and Si is taken into account. The strain is calculated using the valence-force-field model with a Keating interatomic potential. The formation of the hole states is shown to be determined by the competition of two processes: the appearance of a common hole due to the overlapping of “atomic” wavefunctions and the appearance of asymmetry in the potential energy of a hole in the two quantum dots because of the superposition of the elastic strain fields from the vertically aligned Ge nanoclusters. When the thickness of the Si layer separating the Ge dots (t _Si) is greater than 2.3 nm, the binding energy of a hole in the ground state of the two-dot system proves to be lower than the ionization energy of a single quantum dot because of the partial elastic stress relaxation due to the coupling of the quantum dots and due to the decrease in the depth of the potential well for holes. For the values of the parameter t _Si, an intermediate region is revealed, where the covalent molecular bond fails and the hole is localized in one of the two quantum dots, namely, in the dot characterized by the highest strain values.     

Magic numbers in vertically coupled quantum dots

A coupled quantum dot system has been studied by numerical diagonalization of the Hamiltonian. Discontinuous ground-state transitions induced by an external magnetic field have been predicted. Series of magic numbers of angular momentum which minimize the ground-state electron-electron interaction energy have been discovered. Theoretical explanations derived from the first principles have been formulated. Received: 13 July 1997 / Accepted: 7 October 1997     

Two-dimensional probe absorption in coupled quantum dots

We investigate the two-dimensional (2D) probe absorption in coupled quantum dots. It is found that, due to the position-dependent quantum interference effect, the 2D optical absorption spectrum can be easily controlled via adjusting the system parameters. Thus, our scheme may provide some technological applications in solid-state quantum communication.     

Four-wave mixing in coupled semiconductor quantum dots

We present a theoretical analysis of four-wave mixing in coupled quantum dots subject to inhomogeneous broadening. For the biexciton transitions, a clear signature of interdot-coupling appears in the spectra. The possibility of experimental observation is discussed.     

Terahertz wave generation in coupled quantum dots

Based on coupled quantum dots,we present an interesting optical effect in a four-level loop coupled system.Both the two upper levels and the two lower levels are designed to be almost degenerate,which induces a considerable dipole moment.The terahertz wave is obtained from the low-frequency component of the photon emission spectrum.The frequency of the terahertz wave can be controlled by tuning the energy levels via designing the nanostructure appropriately or tuning the driving laser field.A terahertz wave with adjustable frequency and considerable intensity(100 times higher than that of the Rayleigh line) can be obtained.It provides an effective scheme for a terahertz source.     

Carrier tunneling in asymmetric coupled quantum dots

Exciton spin relaxation at low temperatures in InAlAs–InGaAs asymmetric double quantum dots embedded in AlGaAs layers has been investigated as a function of the barrier thickness by the time-resolved photoluminescence measurements. With decreasing the thickness of the AlGaAs layer between the dots, the spin relaxation time change from 3 ns to less than 500 ps. The reduction in the spin relaxation time was considered to originate from the spin-flip tunneling between the ground state in InAlAs dot and the excited states in InGaAs dot, and the resultant tunneling leads to the spin depolarization of the ground state in InGaAs dot.     

Optical control in coupled two-electron quantum dots

The dynamics of two electrons in a 2-dimensional quantum dot molecule in the presence of a time-dependent electromagnetic field is calculated from first principles. We show that carefully selected microwave pulses can exclusively populate a single state of the first excitation band and that the transition time can be further decreased by optimal pulse control. Finally we demonstrate that an oscillating charge localized state may be created by multiple transitions using a sequence of pulses.     

Magnetic interaction between coupled quantum dots

We study the magnetic coupling in artificial molecules composed of two and four laterally coupled quantum dots. The electronic ground-state configurations of such systems are determined by applying current spin density functional theory which allows to include effects of magnetic fields. While the ground-state of a two-dot molecule with strong enough inter-dot coupling tends to be antiferromagnetic with respect to the spins of the single dot components, we find that a square lattice of four dots has a ferromagnetic ground state. Received 17 February 1999 and Received in final form 1 June 1999     

Photon statistics from coupled quantum dots

We present an optical study of two closely stacked self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots. The energy spectrum and correlations between photons subsequently emitted from a single pair provide not only clear evidence of coupling between the quantum dots but also insight into the coupling mechanism. Our results are in agreement with recent theories predicting that tunneling is largely suppressed between nonidentical quantum dots and that the interaction is instead dominated by dipole-dipole coupling and phonon-assisted energy transfer processes.     

Photoluminescence dynamics of coupled quantum dots

We have investigated effects of the strain-compensating spacer layer on photoluminescence (PL) properties of excitons in the multilayered self-assembled quantum dots (SAQDs). The PL decay time of excitons in the sample with a thin spacer layer is longer than that with a thick spacer layer. This is attributed to the lowering of the oscillator strengths owing to reduction of the overlap integral between the electrons and holes envelope functions because of spatially extended electron envelope functions in the growth direction. In addition, the PL intensity of the transverse-magnetic mode in the sample with the thinner spacer layer has been found to be enhanced in the polarized PL measurement from the cleaved edge surface of the samples. These results indicate the possibility of QDs connecting along the growth direction via penetration of the electron envelope function.     

The coherent time evolution of two coupled quantum dots in a two-mode cavity

For two coupled identical quantum dots in a two-mode cavity, we determine the conditions of two-photon and single-photon resonance. It is shown that the exciton-phonon interaction reduces the Rabi frequencies of each model and the Förster interaction between double quantum dots even at absolute zero temperature. The exciton-phonon interaction also makes a contribution to the static exciton-exciton dipole interaction energy. Furthermore, the additional interactions can modify the conditions of photon resonance significantly. A more realistic case of two nonidentical quantum dots is also considered. The influence of parameter misfits on the quantum system is discussed.Received: 8 July 2004, Published online: 3 November 2004PACS: 73.21.La Quantum dots - 71.35.-y Excitons and related phenomena - 42.50.Pq Cavity quantum electrodynamics; micromasers     

Quantum entanglement transition in vertically coupled two single-electron quantum dots with charged impurity

Effects of a charged impurity on the ground state of two vertically coupled identical single-electron quantum dots with and without applied magnetic field are investigated. In the absence of the magnetic field, the investigations of the charged impurity effect on the quantum entanglement (QE) in some low-lying states are carried out. It is found that, both the positive charged impurity (PCI) and the negative charged impurity (NCI)reduce the QE in the low-lying states under consideration except that the QE in the ground state is enhanced by the NCI. Additionally, in the domain of B from 0 Tesla to 15 Tesla, the ground state energy E, the ground state angular momentum L and the ground state QE entropy S are worked out. As far as the ground state are concerned, the PCI (NCI) blocks (induces) the angular momentum phase transition and the QE phase transition besides the known fact (i. e., the PCI/NCI decreases/increases the energy) in the magnetic field.     

Spin-flip process through double quantum dots coupled to two half-metallic ferromagnetic leads

We investigate the spin-flip process through double quantum dots coupled to two half-metallic ferromagnetic leads in series. By means of the slave-boson mean-field approximation, we calculate the density of states in the Kondo regime for two different configurations of the leads. It is found that the transport shows some remarkable properties depending on the spin-flip strength. These effects may be useful in exploiting the role of electronic correlation in spintronics.     

Spin pump effects on the spin current through two coupled quantum dots

We theoretically study the spin pump effects of the rotating magnetic field on the spin current through two coupled quantum dots. Owing to the interdot coupling, two molecular states with different bands can be formed, resulting asymmetric spin current peaks. The possibility of manipulating the spin current is explored by tuning the strength, the frequency, and the direction of the rotating magnetic field. The number and location of the spin current peaks can be controlled by making use of various tunings. Furthermore, the normal 2π period of the spin current with respect to the magnetic flux can be destroyed by the interdot coupling.