Reduced electron relaxation rate in multi-electron quantum dots

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that electron-electron interactions in multi-electron quantum dots can significantly reduce electron relaxation rates, especially in weakly confined systems where phonon interactions dominate.

Contribution

It provides numerical evidence that electron-electron interactions decrease decay rates in multi-electron quantum dots, a novel insight into relaxation dynamics.

Findings

Electron-electron interactions reduce decay rates in quantum dots.

Reduced relaxation is prominent in weakly confined, highly correlated regimes.

Electron-phonon interactions are key in carrier relaxation processes.

Abstract

We use a configuration-interaction approach and Fermi golden rule to investigate electron-phonon interaction in realistic multi-electron quantum dots. Lifetimes are computed in the low-density, highly correlated regime. We report numerical evidence that electron-electron interaction generally leads to reduced decay rates of excited electronic states in weakly confined quantum dots, where carrier relaxation is dominated by the interaction with longitudinal acoustic phonons.