Phonon-assisted tunneling in coupled semiconductor quantum dots -: art. no. 075329

We present a theoretical study on the effects of electron-LO-phonon interaction in two coupled stacked InAs/InAlAs quantum dots. The resonant and nonresonant electron-phonon coupling contributions to the polaron states are obtained in the framework of the Green function formalism and perturbation approaches at zero and finite temperatures. Ground state renormalization is achieved due to phonon virtual absorption at T >0. Tunneling effects between dots have been addressed and their influence on the electronic properties and optical absorption are analyzed. Topological modifications of electronic orbitals are found as a result of phonon-assisted tunneling.