Phonon-assisted transitions from quantum dot excitons to cavity photons

TL;DR

This paper investigates phonon-assisted exciton-to-cavity photon transitions in quantum dots, revealing their efficiency at large detunings and a temperature-dependent asymmetry, supported by both theory and experiments.

Contribution

It provides a combined theoretical and experimental analysis of phonon-assisted transitions, highlighting their efficiency and temperature effects in quantum dot microcavities.

Findings

Transitions are efficient even at large detunings

Strong detuning asymmetry in exciton lifetime

Experimental results agree well with theoretical predictions

Abstract

For a single semiconductor quantum dot embedded in a microcavity, we theoretically and experimentally investigate phonon-assisted transitions between excitons and the cavity mode. Within the framework of the independent boson model we find that such transitions can be very efficient, even for relatively large exciton-cavity detunings of several millielectron volts. Furthermore, we predict a strong detuning asymmetry for the exciton lifetime that vanishes for elevated lattice temperature. Our findings are corroborated by experiment, which turns out to be in good quantitative and qualitative agreement with theory.