Optical Properties of Cds Quantum Dots: The Key Role of the Spin-Orbit and Coulomb Interactions

ABSTRACTWe study theoretically and experimentally the effects of the Coulomb and the spin-orbit coupling on the electronic structure of small quantum dots. A tight-binding calculation with restricted configuration interaction is developed in a typical case: very small cubic quantum dots for which the electron-hole exchange interaction is of the order of magnitude of the spinorbit interaction. Experimentally, resonant photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation are used to obtain information on a single size of CdS quantum dot obtained by a chemical growth method.