Electrostatic definition and control of quantum dots in semiconductor lead telluride nanowires

PbTe is a IV-VI narrow band gap semiconductor with a large dielectric constant of over 1000. This dielectric constant leads to a strong suppression of Coulomb blockade, which allows for the direct spectroscopy of spin and orbital states in quantum dots. In this talk, we present our progress in defining and manipulating quantum dots in PbTe nanowires using top-gate electrodes. We specifically focus on the use of these gates to attempt fine control of quantum dot states and to define double quantum dots electrostatically in the same nanowires. We also discuss the fabrication methods used to create our devices.