Dephasing times in quantum dots due to elastic LO phonon-carrier collisions

Interpretation of experiments on quantum dot (QD) lasers presents a challenge: the phonon bottleneck, which should strongly suppress relaxation and dephasing of the discrete energy states, often seems to be inoperative. We suggest and develop a theory for an intrinsic mechanism for dephasing in QDs: second-order elastic interaction between quantum dot charge carriers and LO phonons. The calculated dephasing times are of the order of 200 fs at room temperature, consistent with experiments. The phonon bottleneck thus does not prevent significant room temperature dephasing.