  Coherent phonons can greatly vary light-matter interaction in semiconductor
nanostructures placed inside an optical resonator on an ultrafast time scale.
For an ensemble of quantum dots as active laser medium phonons are able to
induce a large enhancement or attenuation of the emission intensity, as has
been recently demonstrated. The physics of this coupled phonon-exciton-photon
system consists of various effects, which in the experiment typically cannot be
clearly separated, in particular because a rather complex strain pulse impinges
on the quantum dot ensemble. Here we present a comprehensive theoretical study
how the laser emission is affected by phonon pulses of various shapes as well
as by ensembles with different spectral distributions of the quantum dots. This
gives insight into the fundamental interaction dynamics of the coupled
phonon-exciton-photon system, while it allows us to clearly discriminate
between two prominent effects: the adiabatic shifting of the ensemble and the
shaking effect. This paves the way to a tailored laser emission controlled by
phonons.
