  A novel method to experimentally study the dynamics of long-living excitons
in coupled quantum well semiconductor heterostructures is presented.
Lithographically defined top gate electrodes imprint in-plane artificial
potential landscapes for excitons via the quantum confined Stark effect.
Excitons are shuttled laterally in a time-dependent potential landscape defined
by an interdigitated gate structure. Long-range drift exceeding a distance of
150 um at an exciton drift velocity > 1000 m/s is observed in a gradient
potential formed by a resistive gate stripe.
