Quenching of excited electronic states of quantum dots by a metallic nanowire

Abstract

Nonradiative transfer of energy from an excited quantum dot to a conducting nanowire accompanied by emission of one-dimensional surface plasmons is investigated. We consider the cases of intraband and interband relaxation of charge carriers in the quantum dot. Calculations of the nonradiative energy transfer rate are performed for various values of system parameters. We show that the rate of energy transfer by the considered mechanisms can be as large as ∼1011 s−1, which is comparable to the rates due to other possible mechanisms of relaxation and exceeds significantly the typical rate of radiative electron-hole recombination.