Phonon bottleneck in quantum dots: Role of lifetime of the confined optical phonons

The phonon bottleneck in quantum dots is reexamined theoretically within th e intrinsic phonon scattering mechanism. In the coupled-mode-equation forma lism, an analytical solution is derived for the carrier relaxation. The res ult shows that, due to the anharmonic coupling of the confined LO phonon to the bulk acoustic phonons, the carrier relaxation rate is higher than 10(1 0) s(-1) in a wide detuning range of tens of meV around the LO phonon energ y, which differs remarkably from the original phonon bottleneck prediction. [S0163-1829(99)04107-7].