Quantum Zeno effect rationalizes the phonon bottleneck in semiconductor quantum dots
Svetlana V. Kilina, Amanda J. Neukirch, Bradley F. Habenicht, Dmitri S. Kilin, and Oleg V. Prezhdo
Accepted
Quantum confinement can dramatically slow down electron-phonon relaxation in nanoclusters. Known as phonon-bottleneck, the effect remains elusive. Using a state-of-the-art time-domain ab initio approach, we model the observed bottleneck in CdSe and show that it occurs under quantum Zeno conditions. Decoherence in the electronic subsystem, induced by elastic electron- phonon scattering, should be significantly faster than inelastic scattering. Achieved with multi- phonon relaxation, the phonon-bottleneck is broken by Auger processes and structural defects, rationalizing experimental difficulties.