Far-infrared spectra of lateral quantum dot molecules

Abstract

We study effects of electron–electron interactions and confinement potential on the magneto-optical absorption spectrum in the far-infrared (FIR) range of lateral quantum dot molecules (QDMs). We calculate FIR spectra for three different QDM confinement potentials. We use an accurate exact diagonalization technique for two interacting electrons and calculate dipole transitions between two-body levels with perturbation theory. We conclude that the two-electron FIR spectra directly reflect the symmetry of the confinement potential and interactions cause only small shifts in the spectra. These predictions could be tested in experiments with non-parabolic quantum dots (QDs) by changing the number of confined electrons. We also calculate FIR spectra for up to six non-interacting electrons and observe some additional features in the spectrum.