Ultranarrow homogeneous broadening of confined excitons in quantum dots: Effect of the surrounding matrix

Ultranarrow homogeneous linewidth of a $Z_3$ exciton in CuCl quantum dots was studied by using accumulated photon echo. CuCl quantum dots embedded in two kinds of matrices, namely, an alminoborosilicate glass and a NaCl crystal, were studied. The narrowest homogeneous linewidth at low temperature was 1 $\mu \mathrm{eV}.$ The temperature dependence of the homogeneous linewidth was similar, above 5 K for both kinds of samples, but in the lower-temperature region, a remarkable difference was observed between them. It indicates that the matrix definitely affects the dephasing process of a confined exciton in quantum dots at low temperatures. The observed temperature dependence was explained by the contribution of the confined phonon in quantum dots and the two-level system in the matrix.