Modulating electron numbers and switching electron transport in a single quantum dot by adjusting magnetic fields

Abstract

We have calculated the chemical potentials of a quantum dot parabolically confining one or two electrons in an external magnetic field. One- and two-electron Schrödinger equations are solved by exact diagonalization to obtain the chemical potentials of the dot. The number of electrons in the dot is given by analysing the variation of the chemical potentials with the magnetic field. The results show that the electron number can be modulated and the electron transport can be switched by adjusting magnetic fields. Moreover, the results suggest that external magnetic fields can add ‘unexpected’ electrons to a quantum dot and can also remove ‘useful’ electrons from a quantum dot when magnetic fields are applied for other purposes.