We investigate both dephasing and population relaxation of excitons localiz
ed in quantum dot like islands in narrow GaAs quantum wells by using stimul
ated photon echoes. A direct comparison of these two closely related decay
processes reveals a pure dephasing contribution that dominates excitonic de
phasing at elevated temperatures but does not involve exciton population re
laxation. The pure dephasing contribution arises from coupling of excitonic
states with a continuum of acoustic phonons and is enhanced by 3D quantum
confinement. Both the magnitude and the temperature dependence of the pure
dephasing rate can be described by a theoretical model that generalizes the
Huang-Rhys theory of F-centers. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved.