Electronic structure and many-body effects in self-assembled quantum dots

A detailed model for the electronic properties of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots (SADs) is presented, with emphasis on inter-level transitions and many-body effects. The model is based on the self-consistent solution of three-dimensional Poisson and Schrödinger equations within the local (spin-) density approximation. Nonparabolicity of the band structure and a continuum model for the strain between GaAs and InAs results in position- and energy-dependent effective mass. The electronic spectra of SADs of various shapes have been determined with intraband level transitions and mid-infrared optical matrix elements. Shell structures obeying Hund's rule for various occupation numbers in pyramidal SADs agree well with recent capacitance measurements. It is shown that many-body interactions between orbital pairs of electrons are determined in a first approximation by classical Coulomb interaction.