This work presents experimental results on intersubband transitions in p-type SiGe heterostructures, where time-resolved photocurrent studies allow the determination of intersubband relaxation times of relevance for the development of a silicon-based quantum cascade laser. Inter-valence band relaxation by the emission of LO phonons leads to ultra-short lifetimes of the excited hole state around 500 fs for transition energies above the LO phonon energy, as determined in the course of this work by photocurrent pump-pump experiments employing a free-electron-laser. In contrast, for transition...