Transport through an electrostatically defined quantum dot lattice in a two-dimensional electron gas

Abstract

Quantum dot lattices (QDLs) have the potential to allow for the tailoring of optical, magnetic, and electronic properties of a user-defined artificial solid. We use a dual gated device structure to controllably tune the potential landscape in a GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron gas, thereby enabling the formation of a periodic QDL. The current-voltage characteristics, $I(V)$, follow a power law, as expected for a QDL. In addition, a systematic study of the scaling behavior of $I(V)$ allows us to probe the effects of background disorder on transport through the QDL. Our results are particularly important for semiconductor-based QDL architectures which aim to probe collective phenomena.