  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 QD's:
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.
