Transport Through an Electrostatically Defined Quantum Dot Lattice in a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

TL;DR

This study demonstrates controlled formation of a quantum dot lattice in a 2D electron gas and analyzes its transport properties, revealing how disorder influences conduction in artificial semiconductor structures.

Contribution

We developed a dual gated device to tune a quantum dot lattice in a 2D electron gas and studied its transport behavior systematically.

Findings

Current-voltage follows a power law characteristic of QDLs.

Scaling behavior reveals the impact of background disorder.

Results are relevant for semiconductor-based QDL architectures.

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.