Voltage-controlled optical precursors in quantum dot molecules

Abstract

Optical precursors generated in a quantum-dot-molecule system by an incident square-modulated pulse are theoretically investigated. Voltage-controlled electron tunneling couples two quantum dots instead of a laser field, and a narrow transparency window appears with normal dispersion. The main pulse is delayed due to slow-light effect and the precursor pulses are obtained. We examine the linear susceptibility and find that its one part exhibits normal dispersion and the other one presents anomalous dispersion. Competition between the two parts leads to normal dispersion for the linear susceptibility, which contributes to the above results. Voltage-controlled precursors may be useful to design novel optical devices for generating precursors.