Damping of Rabi oscillations in quantum dots due to lattice dynamics

Abstract

We show that the interaction between carriers confined in a quantum dot and the surrounding lattice under external driving of carrier dynamics has a dynamical, resonant character. The quality of Rabi oscillations in such a system depends on the relation between nonlinear spectral characteristics of the driven dynamics and the spectral density of effectively coupled lattice modes (phonon frequencies and density of states). For a large number of Rabi oscillations within a fixed time (allowed by, e.g., exciton recombination) the spectrum of the dynamics extends towards high frequencies, coming into resonance with acoustic and optical phonons. Thus, this resonant lattice response strongly restricts the possibility of fully coherent control over the charge state in a quantum dot.