Excitons in Electrostatic Traps

A. T. Hammack, N. A. Gippius, G. O. Andreev, L. V. Butov, M. Hanson, A. C. Gossard

Published 2005-04-02Version 1

We consider in-plane electrostatic traps for indirect excitons in coupled quantum wells, where the traps are formed by a laterally modulated gate voltage. An intrinsic obstacle for exciton confinement in electrostatic traps is an in-plane electric field that can lead to exciton dissociation. We propose a design to suppress the in-plane electric field and, at the same time, to effectively confine excitons in the electrostatic traps. We present calculations for various classes of electrostatic traps and experimental proof of principle for trapping of indirect excitons in electrostatic traps.