On exciton decoherence in quantum dots

The effects resulting due to dressing of an exciton with phonons are analyzed as the source of unavoidable decoherence of orbital degrees of freedom in quantum dots. The dressing with longitudinal optical phonons results in energetic shift of order of a few meV even of the ground state of exciton in a state-of-the-art InAs/GaAs dot and the mediating role of longitudinal acoustical phonons is essential in this process. The characteristic time needed for dressing of the exciton with optical phonons is of a picosecond order. That time can be regarded as the lower limit for decoherence for optically driven quantum gates employing self-assembled quantum dot structures.