  A theory for the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between a pair
of semiconducting nanocrystal quantum dots is developed. Two types of
donor-acceptor couplings for the FRET rate are described: dipole-dipole (d-d)
and the dipole-quadrupole (d-q) coupling. The theory builds on a simple
effective mass model which is used to relate the FRET rate to measureable
quantities such as the nanocrystal size, fundamental gap, effective mass,
exciton radius and dielectric constant. We discuss the relative contribution to
the FRET rate of the different multipole terms, the role of strong to weak
confinement limits, and the effects of nanocrystal siz-es.
