This volume contains papers delivered at a NATO Advanced Research Workshop and provides a broad introduction to all major aspects of quantum dot structures. Such structures have been produced for studies of basic physical phenomena, for device fabrication and, on a more speculative level, have been suggested as components of a solid-state realization of a quantum computer. The book is structured so that the reader is introduced to the methods used to produce and control quantum dots, followed by discussions of their structural, electronic, and optical properties. It concludes with examples of how their optical properties can be used in practical devices, including lasers and light-emitting diodes operating at the commercially important wavelengths of 1.3 µm and 1.55 µm. TOC:Preface. Atomistic Processes during Quantum Dot Formation. Quantum Dots in the InAsIGaAs System: An Overview of their Formation. First-Principles Study of InAsIGaAs(001) Heteroepitaxy. Formation of Two-Dimensional Si/Ge Nanostructures Observed by STM. Diffusion, Nucleation and Growth on Metal Surfaces. The Stranski - Krastanov Transition. The Mechanism of the Stranski - Krastanow Transition; Off-lattice KMC Simulations of Stranski-Krastanov-Like Growth. Temperature Regimes of Strain-Induced InAs Quantum Dot Formation. Kinetic Modelling of Strained Films: Effects of Wetting and Facetting. Ge/Si Nanostructures with Quantum Dots grown by Ion-Beam-Assisted 135 Heteroepitaxy. Self-Assembly of Quantum Dot Arrays. Lateral Organization of Quantum Dots on a Patterned Substrate. Some Thermodynamic Aspects of Self-Assembly of Arrays of Quantum Dots. The Search for Materials with Self-Assembling Properties: The Case of Si-based Nanostructures. Structure and Composition of Quantum Dots. X-Ray Scattering Methods for the Study of Epitaxial Self-Assembled Quantum Dots. Carbon-Induced Ge Dots on Si(100): Interplay of Strain and Chemical Effects. Growth Information Carried by Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction. Electrons and Holes in Quantum Dots. Efficient Calculation of Electron States in Self-Assembled Quantum Dots: Application to Auger Relaxation. Quantum Dot Molecules and Chains. Collective Properties of Electrons and Holes in Coupled Quantum Dots. Phase Transitions in Wigner Molecules. Fast Control of Quantum States in Quantum Dots: Limits due to Decoherence. Optical Properties of Quantum Dots. Real Space Ab Initio Calculations of Excitation Energies in Small Silicon Quantum Dots. GeSi/Si(001 Structures with Self-Assembled Islands: Growth and Optical Properties. Quantum Dots in High Electric Fields: Field and Photofield Emission from Ge Nanoclusters on Si(100). Optical Emission Behavior of Si Quantum Dots. Strain-Driven Phenomena upon Overgrowth of Quantum Dots: Activated Spinodal Decomposition and Defect Reduction.
