Polaron relaxation in a quantum dot due to anharmonic coupling within a mean-field approach

Abstract

We study the electronic relaxation in a quantum dot (QD) within the polaron approach, by focusing on the reversible anharmonic decay of longitudinal optical (LO) phonons (forming the polaron) into longitudinal acoustic (LA) phonons. We obtain an effective decay channel for the electronic (or excitonic) polaron states, with a characteristic time constant which is 2-3 orders of magnitude smaller than previous predictions based on the Fermi's Golden Rule. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.