Optical characterization of strong carrier-phonon interactions in single quantum dots

Phonon-assisted transitions in single self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots are investigated by photoluminescence (PL) and PL excitation (PLE) spectroscopy. Under nearly resonant conditions of the excitonic ground state, a broad sideband is observed in both PL and PLE. The adiabatic description with the localized acoustic phonons well explains the observed spectra.