ABSTRACT
Semiconductor Quantum Dots (QDs) are nanometric scale regions of a narrow-bandgap semiconductor embedded within a wider-bandgap semiconductor. –ey con£ne charge carriers (electrons and/or holes) in all three dimensions. –e QD’s energy level spectrum is therefore discrete, much like that of the fundamental building blocks of nature-atoms and molecules. QDs are therefore o«en referred to as “arti£cial atoms” [1-3]. –ey have been extensively investigated recently as potential, technologycompatible quantum light emitters [4-6], providing single photons or “¬ying qubits” on demand. More recently, it has been shown that QDs can emit pairs of entangled photons [7,8]. Such capabilities are important for possible future applications such as quantum information processing [9] and cryptography [10]. –ough similar e¢ects were previously observed in the ¬uorescence of single atoms and molecules [11], semiconductor QDs o¢er many advantages. In particular, they exhibit large electrostatic capacitance, which enables a wide range of charge states [12]. –is feature, among others, forms a sound base for the QDs’ potential applications. At the same time it makes them an excellent stage for studying inter-charge-carrier interactions in con£ned spaces.
