Tuning the inter-shell splitting in self-assembled CdTe quantum dots

We present photoluminescence studies of highly excited single self--assembled CdTe quantum dots under continuous--wave and pulsed excitations. We observe appearance of emission bands related to sequential filling of s--, p-- and d--shells. We analyze the inter-shell splitting for five samples, in which the dots were formed from a strained CdTe layer of different width. We find that with increasing the CdTe layer width the inter-shell splitting increases. In a time resolved measurement, we observe a radiative cascade between transitions involving one, two, and more than two excitons.