Structure of lateral two-electron quantum dot molecules in electromagnetic fields

The energy levels of laterally coupled parabolic double quantum dots are calculated for varying interdot distances. Electron-electron interaction is shown to dominate the spectra: In the diatomic molecule limit of large interdot separation, the two nearly degenerate singlet and triplet ground states are followed by a narrow band of four singlet and four triplet states. The energy spacing between the ground state and the first band of excited states scales directly with the confinement strength of the quantum wells. Similar level separation and band structure are found when the double dot is exposed to a perpendicular magnetic field. Conversely, an electric field parallel to the interdot direction results in a strong level mixing and a narrow transition from a localized state to a covalent diatomic molecular state.