Laser interaction with a pair of two-dimensional coupled quantum dots

Abstract

We study the effects of a laser on the splitting of the lowest electronic states of a pair of two-dimensional (2D) GaAs-(Ga,Al)As coupled quantum dots, in the presence of a homogeneous external magnetic field. The interaction of light with the 2D quantum dots is treated within a dressed-band approach in which a two-band scheme is used to model the GaAs bulk semiconductor whereas the interaction with the laser field is treated through the renormalization of the semiconductor energy gap and conduction/valence effective masses. This approach is valid far from resonances and has been successfully used to treat other confined semiconductor heterostructures. We focus our attention on the splitting of the lowest singlet and triplet states and on their double occupation probability. We analyze the exchange coupling (J) in the effective Heisenberg model as a function of the laser field and its detuning, as well as of the magnetic field (B) within the Heitler-London approximation of molecular physics. We find that due to the electronic confinement the laser may play a role similar to the external magnetic field in the qualitative behavior of the exchange parameter J. Furthermore, the presence of the laser may assure both the sizable exchange coupling and the vanishingly small double occupation probability required for efficient quantum computer operations, even in the absence of an external magnetic field. Besides being of fundamental interest, these features may be used as an efficient two-qubit gate control.