Carrier relaxation dynamics in self-assembled semiconductor quantum dots

Systematic time-resolved pump-probe studies with independent variation in pump and probe energies in combination with time-resolved photoluminescence measurements have been used to investigate the dynamics of carrier capture and carrier relaxation in self-assembled (In,Ga)As/GaAs semiconductor quantum dots. Even for weak excitation, where carrier-carrier scattering is less efficient, the lower-energy quantum-dot states are rapidly populated, whereas for increasing delay times between pump and probe pulses residual populations in the higher quantum-dot states are found. A quantum-kinetic description of the carrier interaction with LO phonons is used for a treatment beyond perturbation theory to include polaron effects and to account also for the non-Markovian dynamics. On this level, the theory for the carrier-phonon interaction confirms fast initial carrier relaxation that becomes incomplete for longer times and results in a nonthermal carrier population in the considered low-temperature regime.