Carrier relaxation dynamics in InP quantum dots studied by artificial control of nonradiative losses

A method to study carrier relaxation dynamics based on the artificial control of nonradiative losses by an external electric field is proposed. Clear evidence of phonon-assisted relaxation as the main relaxation mechanism of hot electron-hole pairs in InP self-assembled quantum dots is found by applying the proposed method. Efficient one-step relaxation processes with emission of acoustic and optical phonons are observed. These findings give important insights into the interaction of the electron-hole pairs in quantum dots with the phonon subsystem.