Choice of atomic basis set for the study of two electrons in a harmonic anisotropic quantum dot using a configuration interaction approach

We have developed a computational code based on the Hartree–Fock and full interaction configuration approaches which allows the study of N -electron confined quantum systems with different confining potentials and external conditions. The code employs Cartesian anisotropic Gaussian-type orbitals as the atomic basis set, which enables the use of different exponents for each direction space in order to better exploit the characteristics of the confining potential. As an illustration, we have employed it to study a system consisting of two electrons confined by a three-dimensional harmonic potential for different values of confinement strength, leading to different confinement conditions: an isotropic three-dimensional and an anisotropic oblate (or quasi-two dimensional) quantum dot. A central aspect of this study is to propose efficient procedures for choosing the exponents of the atomic basis functions. In particular, we note that the use of more than one function for each atomic orbital can improve the convergence of the electronic energy levels. The present results are compared with other theoretical values published previously. (paper)