A Diamond Trap for Indirect Excitons in Coupled Quantum Wells

We report on trapping and control of indirect excitons in diamond-shaped electrostatic traps. An important advantage of the diamond trap is the realization of a parabolic-like trapping potential for excitons on a large scale by utilizing only a single electrode. We also report on trapping and control of excitons in elevated diamond traps implemented by adding a 'wire' electrode around the diamond electrode. The elevated trap provides evaporative cooling to the excitons in the trap beyond the cooling via phonon emission[4]. We present experimental proof of principle for trapping of indirect excitons in normal and elevated diamond trap configurations. For the elevated trap configuration, we observed an effective collection of excitons to the trap center with increasing exciton density. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America