Carrier-Phonon Interaction in Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Abstract

The goals of this PhD thesis are theoretical investigations of carrier scattering processes in semiconductor quantum dots on a quantum-kinetic basis. A consistent treatment of quasi-particle renormalizations and carrier kinetics for non-equilibrium conditions is presented, using the framework of non-equilibrium Green's functions. The focus of our investigations is the interaction of carriers with LO phonons. Starting from a detailed study of quantum-dot polarons, scattering and dephasing processes are studied. For the optical response of semiconductor quantum dots a consistent treatment of the carrier-LO-phonon and the carrier-carrier interaction is presented. Finally, the combination of an tight-binding description of the single-particle properties with a many-body theory is demonstrated for nitride quantum dots where intrinsic material properties are of central importance.