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

摘要

We show both theoretically and experimentally that scanning tunnelingspectroscopy (STS) images of semiconductor quantum dots may display clearsignatures of electron-electron correlation. We apply many-body tunnelingtheory to a realistic model which fully takes into account correlation effectsand dot anisotropy. Comparing measured STS images of freestanding InAs quantumdots with those calculated by the full configuration interaction method, weexplain the wave function sequence in terms of images of one- and two-electronstates. The STS map corresponding to double charging is significantly distortedby electron correlation with respect to the non-interacting case.