Abstract

The shift in electronic energy levels is the most striking effect when semiconductor particles are reduced in dimension into the quantum dot regime but there are other effects that may also be important in the use of quantum dot materials for nonlinear optics. In this paper we discuss how the interaction between electronic quasiparticles (such as excitons) and phonons is altered as particle dimensions are reduced. Phonons can be confined if the matrix for the quantum dots has no mode at the phonon energy; polaritons may also be quantized. The wavevector of both phonons and electronic quasiparticles is ill-defined to the extend of 1/d, the size of the particle. This uncertainty in wavevector should enhance the coupling between electronic states and phonons.

© 1991 Optical Society of America