Relaxation of charge carriers in quantum dots with the involvement of plasmon-phonon modes

A new mechanism of intraband relaxation of charge carriers in quantum dots (QDs) incorporated in a heterostructure at a relatively large distance from its doped elements is considered. Relaxation is caused by coupling of the electron subsystem of the QD to plasmon-phonon excitations of doped components of the heterostructure via the electric potential induced by these excitations. It is shown that this interaction with bulk plasmon-LO-phonon modes is possible only due to their spatial dispersion. The performed estimations of relaxation rates have shown that the mechanism under consideration is quite efficient even if the QDs are at a distance as large as 100 nm from the doped regions of the heterostructure. If this distance is about several tens of nanometers, this mechanism can become dominant. (C) 2004 MAIK "Nauka / Interperiodica".