Many-particle effects in self-organized quantum dots

The influence of spectator particles on the electronic and optical properties is investigated for MOCVD grown In(Ga)AS/GaAs quantum dots (QDs). The correlation between optical and structural properties allows for an analysis of the structural-dependent few-particle effects in single quantum dots, demonstrating the importance of correlation in self-organized quantum dots. For the investigation of the ground and excited QD states in view of Coulomb interaction, photoluminescence excitation and high-excitation photoluminescence experiments are used in presence of the maximum possible number of spectator electrons, holes and excitons. The results allow on the one hand to identify the electron and hole levels participating at the observed QD transitions and on the other hand to quantify clearly the differences between single-exciton and many-particle transitions. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.