Carrier and lattice relaxation after optical excitation is simulated for the prototypical
wide-bandgap semiconductors CuI and ZnO. Transient temperature dynamics of electrons,
holes as well as longitudinal-optic (LO), transverse-optic (TO) and acoustic phonons are
distinguished. Carrier-LO-phonon interaction constitutes the dominant energy-loss channel as
expected for polar semiconductors and hot-phonon effects are observed for strong optical
excitation. Our results support the findings of recent time-resolved optical spectroscopy
experiments
