A study of the effects of a laser field on the energy spectra of low-dimens
ional GaAs-(Ga,Al)As semiconductor systems is presented by using a Kane ban
d-structure model for the GaAs bulk semiconductor. For a laser tuned far be
low any resonances, the effects of the laser-semiconductor interaction corr
espond to a renormalization or dressing of the semiconductor energy gap and
conduction/valence effective masses. This renormalized approach may be use
d to give an adequate indication of the laser effects on any semiconductor
heterostructures for which the effective-mass approximation provides a good
physical description. As an application, it is shown that dressing effects
on the donor and exciton peak energies in quantum-well heterostructures ma
y be quite considerable and readily observable. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science L
td. All rights reserved.