Electronic structure of rectangular HgTe quantum dots

Abstract We theoretically investigate the single- and few-electron ground-states properties of HgTe topological insulator quantum dots with rectangular hard-wall confining potential using configuration interaction method. For the case of single electron, the edge states is robust against the deformation from a square quantum dot to a rectangular ones, in contrast to the bulk states, the energy gap of the QDs increased due to the coupling of the opposite edge states; for the case of few electrons, the electrons first fill the edge states in the bulk band gap and the addition energy exhibit universal even-odd oscillation due to the shape-independent two-fold degeneracy of the edge states. The size of this edge shell can be controlled by tuning the dot size, shape or the bulk band gap via lateral or vertical electric gating respectively of the HgTe quantum dot.