Zero-Phonon Line Broadening and Satellite Peaks in Nanowire Quantum Dots: The Role of Piezoelectric Coupling

We investigate the influence of the one-dimensional character of the phonon modes in a catalytically grown GaAs nanowire on the absorption spectrum of an embedded quantum dot, focusing on the contribution from the piezoelectric coupling. In general, the reduced dimensionality of the phonons leads to spectral side peaks and a zero-phonon line broadening due to the energetically lowest (acoustic) phonon mode. While the deformation potential predominantly couples to radial modes, the piezoelectric interaction can also couple strongly to modes of axial character, leading to additional absorption features. The contribution of the piezoelectric coupling to the zero-phonon line is negligible.