  Modern nanotechnology allows producing, depending on application, various
quantum nanostructures with the desired properties. These properties are
strongly influenced by the confinement potential which can be modified, e.g.,
by electrical gating. In this paper we analyze a nanostructure composed of a
quantum dot surrounded by a quantum ring. We show that depending on the details
of the confining potential the electron wave functions can be located in
different parts of the structure. Since the properties of such a nanostructure
strongly depend on the distribution of the wave functions, varying the applied
gate voltage one can easily control them. In particular, we illustrate the high
controllability of the nanostructure by demonstrating how its coherent,
optical, and conducting properties can be drastically changed by a small
modification of the confining potential.
