DEPENDENCE OF THE OPTICAL-ABSORPTION ON THE INPLANE LIGHT POLARIZATION OF QWS GROWN ON LOW-SYMMETRY (011) AND (113) SURFACES

We show, on the basis of 8 x 8 k . p electronic structure calculations , that in contrast to the well-known properties of high symmetry (001) quantum wells, the optical absorption for samples grown along low-sym metry directions such as (011), (012), (112) and (113), strongly depen ds an the direction of the polarization of the light in the interface plane. No polarization dependence is found for circularly polarized li ght. Calculations performed for GaAs/AlGaAs and InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum wills show that this effect is largest for the (011) direction and is strongly enhanced in the presence of strain.