Imaging the Electron Wave Function in Self-Assembled Quantum Dots

Abstract
Magnetotunneling spectroscopy is used as a noninvasive and nondestructive probe to produce two-dimensional spatial images of the probability density of an electron confined in a self-assembled semiconductor quantum dot. The technique exploits the effect of the classical Lorentz force on the motion of a tunneling electron and can be regarded as the momentum ( k ) space analog of scanning tunneling microscopy imaging. The images reveal the elliptical symmetry of the ground state and the characteristic lobes of the higher energy states.