Abstract

Semiconductor nanocrystals are important systems for the study of three-dimensional quantum confinement.¹ Compared to the bulk, enhanced coupling of acoustic phonons to electronic transitions is expected. The study of acoustic phonons is interesting because of the role that such low frequency modes can play in line broadening mechanisms. Low frequency modes can be directly observed in time domain, via resonant impulsive vibrational wavepacket generation, as recently reported for PbS³ and PbTe⁴ quantum dots. This approach provides information on both phonon frequency and dynamics.

© 1999 Optical Society of America