Relaxation of electron energy in the polar semiconductor double quantum dots

Electron energy relaxation in the asymmetric double quantum dot system is calculated numerically using the material parameters of GaAs. The double dot consists of two tunneling coupled quantum dots each having a single nondegenerate electronic orbital. The effect of the intradot multiple scattering of the single electron on the longitudinal optical phonons is considered. The interdot interaction is provided by the electronic tunneling mechanism. The dependence of the relaxation rate on the thickness of the tunneling barrier, on the temperature and on the electron energy-level separation is calculated. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.