Few-electron systems in quantum cylinders

Systems of excess electrons confined in cylindrical semiconductor quantum d ots, i.e., artificial atoms of cylindrical symmetry, are studied by the unr estricted Hartree-Fock method. The confinement potential is assumed in the form of three-dimensional cylindrically symmetric potential well of finite depth. The calculations have been performed for artificial atoms with the n umber of electrons from 1 to 10. We have taken into account the external ma gnetic field applied parallel to the axis of the cylinder and studied the i nfluence of quantum-dot geometry on the maximum number of confined electron s and the ground-state spinorbital configuration. The applicability of the quasi-two-dimensional model of quantum dots has been discussed and the magn etic-field behavior has been predicted for quantum cylinders of comparable diameter and height. We have applied the present model to a description of single-electron charging of self-assembled quantum dots and obtained a good agreement with capacitance-spectroscopy data.