Heavy- and light-hole character of optical transitions in InAs/GaAs single-monolayer quantum wells

We examine the nature of the optical transitions in InAs/GaAs single-monolayer quantum wells grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. The heavy- and light-hole character of the observed transitions is revealed by monitoring the linear polarization of the emitted luminescence and by selective excitation of the states by linearly polarized light. In addition, these experiments provide information about the band alignment between InAs and GaAs.