Electron-phonon interactions in semiconductor nanocrystals

The electron-phonon interactions in semiconductor nanocrystals, especially concerning the acoustic phonon modes are derived and the size dependence of the coupling strength is clarified for typical coupling mechanisms. On the basis of these results, the commonly observed linearly temperature-dependent term of the excitonic dephasing rate and the proportionality of its magnitude to the inverse square of the nanocrystal size are attributed to the pure dephasing due to the deformation-potential coupling. The luminescence Stokes shift and the Huang-Rhys factor due to acoustic phonon modes in Si nanocrystals are discussed in conjunction with the origin of the recently observed luminescence onset energy.