We study theoretically and experimentally the effects of the Coulomb and the spin-orbit coupling on the electronic structure of small quantum dots. A tight-binding calculation with restricted configuration interaction is developed in a typical case: very small cubic quantum dots for which the electron-hole exchange interaction is of the order of magnitude of the spinorbit interaction. Experimentally, resonant photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation are used to obtain information on a single size of CdS quantum dot obtained by a chemical growth method.

We present results on photoluminescence excitation spectra (PLE) of wurtzite CdSe nanocrystals (NCs) embedded in a glass with effective radii in the range 15–35 Å. Information on the near band-gap absorption of an assembly of NCs is obtained by selecting a narrow energy range in the inhomogeneously broadened photoluminescence band. The size and shape dependence of the lowest exciton states are calculated for slightly non-spherical wurtzite NCs. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions when both shape and size dispersions are taken into account.

Sol-gel matrices doped with lead sulfide nanoparticles showing a structured absorption spectrum were synthesized by using the procedure previously reported for CdS doped matrices. The morphology of the PbS aggregates was investigated by high resolution electron microscopy, and the observations are correlated with the absorption spectra. Finally, preliminary results concerning some linear optical properties of the materials are presented.