Light-hole exciton in a nanowire quantum dot

Quantum dots are promising building blocks for future optoelectronics or quantum information applications. Many of their properties derive from the quantum state of the hole trapped in the dot. ``Light'' and ``heavy'' hole states differ by the anisotropic character of their spin and of the electric dipole they form with a trapped electron. Light holes are of particular interest as they offer extended opportunities for optical manipulation of single carriers, or the electrical manipulation of magnetic objects. Here, the authors demonstrate that the hole ground state can be engineered through a proper design of the strain built in the dot when inserted inside a nanowire of a different lattice parameter. Two complementary techniques provide evidence of a light hole state: polarization-resolved Fourier imaging, which is sensitive to the nature of the electron-hole electric dipole, and magneto-optical spectroscopy, which probes the hole spin state through its coupling to magnetic atoms.