Imaging correlated wave functions of few-electron quantum dots: Theory and scanning tunneling spectroscopy experiments

Abstract

We show both theoretically and experimentally that scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) images of semiconductor quantum dots may display clear signatures of electron-electron correlation. We apply many-body tunneling theory to a realistic model which fully takes into account correlation effects and dot anisotropy. Comparing measured STS images of freestanding InAs quantum dots with those calculated by the full configuration interaction method, we explain the wave function sequence in terms of images of one- and two-electron states. The STS map corresponding to double charging is significantly distorted by electron correlation with respect to the non-interacting case.

RevTeX 4.0, 5 pages, 3 B/W figures, 1 table. This paper is based on an invited talk presented by the authors at the 28th International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors, which was held 24-28 July 2006, in Vienna, Austria

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• Non-linear Coulomb blockade microscopy of a correlated one-dimensional quantum dot
• Visualizing electron correlation by means of ab-initio scanning tunneling spectroscopy images of single molecules
• Interaction and temperature effects on the pair correlation function of a strongly interacting 1D quantum dot