Intrinsic optical anisotropy in zinc-blende semiconductor quantum wells

An analytical (hk center dot)-oriented k center dot p method is developed in this paper and applied to calculate the optical transition strength of zinc-blende semiconductor quantum wells. The optical matrix elements and the hole effective masses are presented in analytical forms. Calculations are performed for In0.53Ga0.47As/InP quantum wells oriented in arbitrary growth directions. The in-plane polarization angle is adopted as a key parameter in the calculations performed to explore the variation of the optical transition strength in the well plane. The theoretical results indicate that the largest optical anisotropy of the optical matrix elements in the well plane appears in the (110) surface.