ABSTRACT
Atom like properties such as three-dimensional (3D) energy quantization, Hund’s rule, and single-electron charging have been observed in quantum dots (QD). This chapter shows that in a first approximation, the energy of all orbital pairs up to six electrons for InAs/GaAs self-assembled dots and electrostatically confined QDs can be well approximated in terms of the classical Hartree interaction for two electrons in the ground state. From a fundamental viewpoint, Coulomb interactions between orbital pairs are interesting because they provide information on the effect of confinement and the symmetry of the 3D bound states on the N-electron interaction. The proposed method is based on the observation that in the effective mass approximation / local spin density approximation framework the Hartree energy of the quantum dots considered accounts for most of the electron-electron interaction energy, while the exchange-correlation energy accounts for a small correction, after the self-interaction energy part of the exchange is subtracted.
