Charge sensing of an artificial H2+ molecule in lateral quantum dots -: art. no. 125307

We report charge detection studies of a lateral double quantum dot with controllable charge states and tunable tunnel coupling. Using an integrated electrometer, we characterize the equilibrium state of a single electron trapped in the double-dot (artificial H-2(+) molecule) by measuring the average occupation of one dot. We present a model where the electrostatic coupling between the molecule and the sensor is taken into account explicitly. From the measurements, we extract the temperature of the isolated electron and the tunnel coupling energy. It is found that this coupling can be tuned between 0 and 60 mu eV in our device.