Several important proposals to use semiconductor quantum dots in quantum information technology rely on the control of the dark exciton ground states, such as dark exciton based qubits with a microsecond lifetime. In this paper, we present an efficient way to occupy the dark exciton ground state by a single short laser pulse. The scheme is based on an optical excitation with a longitudinal field component featured by, e.g., radially polarized beams or certain Laguerre-Gauss or Bessel beams. Utilizing this component, we show within a configuration interaction approach that high-energy exciton states composed of light-hole excitons and higher dark heavy-hole excitons can be addressed. When the higher exciton relaxes, a dark exciton in its ground state is created.

• Received 6 March 2020
• Revised 30 November 2020
• Accepted 11 December 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.013024

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Published by the American Physical Society