  Several important proposals to use semiconductor quantum dots in quantum
information technology rely on the control of the dark exciton ground states,
such as dark exciton based qubits with a $\mu$s life time. In this paper, we
present an efficient way to occupy the dark exciton ground state by a single
short laser pulse. The scheme is based on an optical excitation with a
longitudinal field component featured by, e.g., radially polarized beams or
certain Laguerre-Gauss or Bessel beams. Utilizing this component, we show
within a configuration interaction approach that high-energy exciton states
composed of light-hole excitons and higher dark heavy-hole excitons can be
addressed. When the higher exciton relaxes, a dark exciton in its ground state
is created.
