Contents -- Preface -- 1. Fundamentals of Zero-Dimensional Nanostructures -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Structural Information on Quantum Dots -- 1.3 Single-Particle Electronic States in Quantum Dots -- 1.3.1 Eigenstates in the absence of external perturbations -- 1.3.2 Effect of "external" fields -- 1.3.2.1 Electric field effects -- 1.3.2.2 Magnetic field effects -- 1.3.3 Dot-dot interaction in stacked dots -- quantum dot molecules -- 1.4 Optical Properties -- 1.4.1 The idealized quantum dot: a two-level atom. Populations and coherence -- 1.4.2 Optical properties of dot ensembles. Broadening and selection rules -- 1.4.3 Single dot spectroscopy: the failure of the simple ideas -- 1.5 Phonons and Carrier Coupling to the Phonons in Quantum Dots -- 1.6 Carrier-Carrier Interaction in Quantum Dots -- 1.6.1 Electron-hole interaction in quantum dots -- 1.6.2 Excitonic complexes and optical properties of highly excited quantum dots: new phenomena and a new approach -- 1.6.3 Auger scattering in quantum dots -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- 2. Growth and Characterization of Self-Assembled Semiconductor Macroatoms -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.1.1 Semiconductor quantum dots -- 2.2 Fabrication and Structural Analysis of InGaAs/GaAs Quantum Dots -- 2.3 Nanotechnological Strategies for the Fabrication of Single-Dot Structures -- 2.4 Modeling of the Carrier Wavefunctions -- 2.5 Photoluminescence Experiments -- 2.6 Single-Dot Spectroscopy -- 2.6.1 Wavefunction spectroscopy -- 2.6.2 Optical spectroscopy -- 2.7 Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- 3. Ultrafast Coherent Spectroscopy of Single Semiconductor Quantum Dots -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Semiconductor Quantum Dots -- 3.2.1 Interface quantum dots -- 3.2.2 Self-assembled quantum dots -- 3.3 Experimental Techniques -- 3.3.1 Coherent spectroscopy on interface quantum dots.

3.3.2 Coherent spectroscopy on self-assembled quantum dots -- 3.4 Results -- 3.4.1 Coherent control in single interface quantum dots -- 3.4.1.1 Ultrafast optical nonlinearities of single interface quantum dots -- 3.4.1.2 Optical Stark effect and Rabi oscillations in a quantum dot: ultrafast control of single exciton polarizations -- 3.4.2 Coherent control in single self-assembled quantum dots -- 3.5 Outlook -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- 4. Few-Particle Effects in Semiconductor Macroatoms/Molecules -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Excitons -- 4.2.1 Semiconductors of higher dimension -- 4.2.2 Semiconductor quantum dots -- 4.2.2.1 Weak confinement regime -- 4.2.2.2 Strong confinement regime -- 4.2.3 Spin structure -- 4.3 Biexcitons -- 4.3.1 Weak confinement regime -- 4.3.2 Strong confinement regime -- 4.4 Few-Partide States -- 4.4.1 Multi excitons -- 4.4.2 Multi-charged excitons -- 4.4.3 Configuration interactions -- 4.5 Optical Spectroscopy -- 4.5.1 Excitons and biexcitons -- 4.5.1.1 Weak confinement regime -- 4.5.1.2 Strong confinement regime -- 4.5.2 Multi excitons -- 4.5.3 Multi-charged excitons -- 4.6 Inter-dot Coupling: Tunneling vs. Coulomb Correlations -- 4.7 Inter-Dot Coupling: Role of the Electric Field -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- 5. Electron-Phonon Interaction in Semiconductor Quantum Dots -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Energy Relaxation in Bulk and Quantum Well Structures -- 5.3 Magneto-Absorption in Quantum Dots: the Evidence of Polarons -- 5.4 Energy Relaxation in the Polaron Framework -- 5.5 Excitonic Polarons in Quantum Dots -- 5.6 Diagonal Non-Perturbative Interaction Between Electrons and Acoustic Phonons -- 5.7 Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- 6. Phonon-Induced Decoherence in Semiconductor Quantum Dots -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Model for Phonon-Induced Pure Dephasing.

6.3 Analytical Results for Excitations with Ultrafast Pulses -- 6.3.1 Linear single-dot spectra -- 6.3.2 The initial decay of four-wave-mixing signals -- 6.3.3 Impact of pure dephasing on electronic and phononic occupations -- 6.4 Influences of Temporal and Spectral Properties of the Laser Excitation on the Decoherence -- 6.4.1 Phonon-induced damping of Rabi oscillations in quantum dots -- 6.4.2 Optimal gating strategy: a trade-off between different types of decoherence -- 6.5 Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- 7. All-Optical Schemes for Quantum Information Processing with Semiconductor Macroatoms -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 All-Optical Quantum Information/Computation with Semi-conductor Macroatoms -- 7.2.1 Single-dot encoding schemes -- 7.2.2 Coupled-dot encoding schemes -- 7.2.2.1 GaAs-based quantum hardware -- 7.2.2.2 GaN-based quantum hardware -- 7.2.3 Combination of charge and spin degrees of freedom -- 7.2.3.1 Artificial molecules as qubits and Raman adiabatic passages for the optical gating -- 7.3 Summary and Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- 8. Novel Devices for the Measurement of Electronic States in Semiconductor Quantum Dots -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Field-Induced Exciton-Exciton Coupling in Semiconductor Quantum Dots with no Intrinsic Bias -- 8.3 Modeling Few Particle Interactions in Quantum Dots with Intrinsic Bias -- 8.3.1 Engineering electronic structure and optical spectrum in coupled GaN quantum dots -- 8.3.2 Semi-analytical model -- 8.3.2.1 Single exciton system -- 8.3.2.2 Biexciton system -- 8.4 Semiconductor Double Quantum Dot as Storage Qubit -- 8.4.1 Definition -- 8.4.2 Measurement using a STIRAP process -- 8.4.2.1 Failure of the adiabatic condition -- 8.4.2.2 Failure of the energy conservation requirement -- 8.5 All-Optical Read-Out Device -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- Index.