# Morphology of wetting-layer states in a simple quantum-dot wetting-layer model

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex morphology of wetting-layer states in quantum-dot models, revealing irregularities and chaos-like features that challenge simple plane wave approximations.

## Contribution

It introduces a quantum chaos-based analysis to characterize wetting-layer states, highlighting their irregular and complex nature in a simple quantum-dot model.

## Key findings

- Wetting-layer states exhibit irregular, complex morphology.
- Standard plane wave approximation is insufficient.
- Quantum chaos tools reveal spectral and localization properties.

## Abstract

The excitation of semiconductor quantum dots often involves an attached wetting layer with delocalized single-particle energy eigenstates. These wetting-layer states are usually approximated by (orthogonalized) plane waves. We show that this approach is too crude. Even for a simple model based on the effective-mass approximation and containing one or a few lens-shaped quantum dots in a rectangular wetting layer, the wetting-layer states typically show a substantially irregular and complex morphology. To quantify this complexity we use concepts from the field of quantum chaos such as spectral analysis of energy levels, amplitude distributions, and localization of energy eigenstates.