Two electrons in a strongly coupled double quantum dot: From an artificial helium atom to a hydrogen molecule

We study the formation of molecular states in a two-electron quantum dot as a function of the barrier potential dividing the dot. The increasing barrier potential drives the two electron system from an artificial helium atom to an artificial hydrogen molecule. To study this strongly coupled regime, we introduce variational wave functions which describe accurately two electrons in a single dot, and then study their mixing induced by the barrier. The evolution of the singlet-triplet gap with the barrier potential and with an external magnetic field is analyzed.