Modelling chemical reactions using semiconductor quantum dots

¹  Frontier Research System, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) - Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan
²  CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency - Kawaguchi, Saitama, 332-0012, Japan
³  Quantum Cat Analytics - 1751 67 St. E11, Brooklyn, NY 11204, USA
⁴  Department of Physics, Loughborough University - Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK
⁵  Department of Physics, Queens College, The City University of New York - Flushing, NY 11367, USA
⁶  Department of Engineering Science and Physics, College of Staten Island, The City University of New York Staten Island, NY 10314, USA
⁷  Center for Theoretical Physics, Physics Department, The University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1040, USA

Received: 7 August 2007
Accepted: 23 October 2007

Abstract

We propose the use of semiconductor quantum dots for simulating chemical reactions, as electrons are redistributed among such artificial atoms. We show that it is possible to achieve various reaction regimes and obtain different reaction products by varying the speed of voltage changes applied to the gates forming quantum dots. Considering the simplest possible reaction, H₂+H H+H₂, we show how the necessary initial state can be obtained and what voltage pulses should be applied to achieve a desirable final product. Our calculations have been performed using the Pechukas gas approach, which can be extended for more complicated reactions.