The harmonic oscillator is a foundational concept in both theoretical and experimental quantum mechanics. Here, we demonstrate harmonic oscillators in a semiconductor platform by faithfully implementing continuously graded alloy semiconductor quantum wells. Unlike current technology, this technique avoids interfaces that can hamper the system and allows for the production of multiwell stacks several micrometers thick. The experimentally measured system oscillations are at 3 THz for two structures containing 18 and 54 parabolic quantum wells. Absorption at room temperature is achieved: this is as expected from a parabolic potential and is unlike square quantum wells that require cryogenic operation. Linewidths below 11% of the central frequency are obtained up to 150 K, with a 5.6% linewidth obtained at 10 K. Furthermore, we show that the system correctly displays an absence of nonlinearity despite electron-electron interactions—analogous to the Kohn theorem. These high-quality structures already open up several new experimental vistas.

Continuously graded parabolic quantum wells with excellent optical performances are used to overcome the low‐frequency and thermal limitations of square quantum wells at terahertz (THz) frequencies. The formation of microcavity intersubband polaritons at frequencies as low as 1.8 THz is demonstrated, with a sustained ultra‐strong coupling regime up to a temperature of 200 K. Thanks to the excellent intersubband transition linewidth, polaritons present quality factors up to 17. It is additionally shown that the ultra‐strong coupling regime is preserved when the active region is embedded in sub‐wavelength resonators, with an estimated relative strength η = Ω_R/ω₀ = 0.12. This represents an important milestone for future studies of quantum vacuum radiation because such resonators can be optically modulated at ultrafast rates, possibly leading to the generation of non‐classical light via the dynamic Casimir effect. Finally, with an effective volume of , it is estimated that fewer than 3000 electrons per resonator are ultra‐strongly coupled to the quantized electromagnetic mode, proving it is also a promising approach to explore few‐electron polaritonic systems operating at relatively high temperatures.

We study the negatively charged exciton trion in stacked quantum dots by the configuration interaction method. We discuss the trion recombination spectrum in an external electric field (F) and look for the effects of the valence band mixing leading to the antibonding-hole ground-state formation in the quantum dot molecule. We find that the antibonding-hole ground state produces a distinct modification of the trion emission for strongly coupled dots inverting the intensities of recombination lines in the principal avoided crossing appearing in the spectrum within the range of low F. This avoided crossing is very similar to the one observed for the neutral exciton only with a shift of the anticrossing centra on the scale of F. The exciton and trion emission spectra are distinctly different for weak interdot tunnel coupling, for which the effects of the antibonding-hole ground state are less evident for both the exciton and the trion. In particular for both the bonding and the antibonding-hole ground states the dissociation of the negative trion ground state appears as a two-stage process with a characteristic shape of the recombination line as observed experimentally.

An idea of employing the Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana dynamics to flip a spin of a single ground state hole is introduced and explored by a time-dependent simulation. This configuration interaction study considers a hole confined in a quantum molecule formed in an InSb $\langle 111\rangle$ quantum wire by application of an electrostatic potential. An up-down spin-mixing avoided crossing is formed by nonaxial terms in the Kohn-Luttinger Hamiltonian and the Dresselhaus spin-orbit one. Manipulation of the system is possible by the dynamic change of an external vertical electric field, which enables the consecutive driving of the hole through two anticrossings. Moreover, a simple model of the power-law-type noise that impedes precise electric control of the system is included in the form of random telegraph noise to estimate the limitations of the working conditions. We show that in principle the process is possible, but it requires precise control of the parameters of the driving impulse.

We consider optical signatures of valence band mixing in positive trion and exciton complexes in vertically stacked InGaAs quantum dots. We use the configuration interaction method and an axially symmetric four-band Luttinger-Kohn Hamiltonian (KL) that allows for heavy-hole and light-hole band mixing due to spin-orbit interaction. A scalar effective hole mass model is also included for comparison. We found essential differences (i.e., different recombination patterns) between the KL and separated-bands model spectra. In the weak-coupling regime for KL model, we obtained a good agreement with experimentally observed X patterns in contrast to the scalar effective mass model.