Low‐temperature dephasing mechanism of very small quantum dots: the role of confined phonons and surrounding matrices

Abstract

Temperature dependence of the homogeneous linewidth of CuBr quantum dots in glass and NaBr matrices and CdSe quantum dots in glass matrix has been investigated using heterodyne-detected accumulated photon echo. We can reproduce the observed nonlinear temperature dependence considering two characteristic mechanisms: the small energy excitation in two-level system and the two-phonon Raman process of confined acoustic phonons. The interaction with the two-level system is dominant below 15 K and 10 K for CuBr and CdSe quantum dots, respectively. Above these temperatures the interaction with confined phonons is dominant. These results are similar to those of a previous study of CuCl quantum dots in glass, showing the universal influence of confined phonons and surrounding matrices on the low-temperature dephasing process of very small semiconductor quantum dots.