Effects of electron-electron interactions on excitonic absorption in charged self-assembled quantum dots

We investigate theoretically the effects of electron-electron interactions on excitonic absorption in charged, lens-shaped, self-assembled quantum dot s (SAD). The electronic shells of SAD are filled with N electrons according to generalized Hund's rules. In absorption, an exciton is added to the ele ctronic system. The electronic part of the exciton couples in a nontrivial way to resonant electronic configurations of SAD through direct and exchang e interaction while the mobile valence hole contributes through the entangl ement of many-electron configurations. The two processes result in an excit onic absorption spectrum that reflects the filling of electronic shells. Th ese processes are illustrated by detailed calculations of absorption spectr a for few-electron complexes.