Parallel-Coupled Quantum Dots in InAs Nanowires.

We use crystal-phase tuning during epitaxial growth of InAs nanowires to create quantum dots with very strong confinement. A set of gate electrodes are used to reproducibly split the quantum dots into even smaller pairs for which we can control the populations down to the last electron. The double quantum dots, which are parallel-coupled to source and drain, show clear and stable odd-even level pairing due to spin degeneracy and the strong confinement. The combination of hard-wall barriers to source and drain, shallow interdot tunnel barriers, and very high single-particle excitation energies allow an order of magnitude tuning of the strength for the first intramolecular bond. We show examples for nanowires with different facet orientations, and suggest possible mechanisms behind the reproducible double-dot formation.