Single Electron Charging in Optically Active Nanowire Quantum Dots

We report optical experiments of a charge tunable, single nanowire quantum dot subject to an electric field tuned by two independent voltages. First, we control tunneling events through an applied electric field along the nanowire growth direction. Second, we modify the chemical potential in the nanowire with a back-gate. We combine these two field-effects to isolate a single electron and independently tune the tunnel coupling of the quantum dot with the contacts. Such charge control is a first requirement for opto-electrical single electron spin experiments on a nanowire quantum dot.