On the lifetime of charge carriers in quantum dots at low temperatures

The nonequilibrium lifetime of charge carriers in a quantum dot has been experimentally and theoretically investigated. It has been shown that, at low temperatures when the ground state is fully occupied, the lifetime is almost independent of the excitation density and determined only by radiative recombination. Such behavior is theoretically explained and it is shown that, under the condition of the fully occupied ground state, the Auger recombination process can be suppressed by spin effects. The suppression of Auger recombination in such a system is microscopically described.