Size effect on exciton-phonon scattering in quantum wires

Exciton-phonon scattering in GaAs/AlAs quantum wires is investigated by means of Lee-Low-Pines transformations. For both heavy and light holes, we study effects on the relaxation time due to confinement and temperature. As expected, it is found that the scattering rate generally increases with the temperature. For a given temperature, it first increases with decreasing wire size to a peak, and then decreases as the size decreases further. The peak occurs at a larger size for light-hole excitons than for heavy-hole excitons. © 1996 The American Physical Society.