Giant optical anisotropy in semiconductor heterostructures with no-common atom

Due to their reduced symmetry no-common atom heterostructures are expected to present in-plane anistropic features. We report polarization-resolved optical transmission measurements performed on GaInAs–InP multi-quantum wells evidencing a large dichroïsm. A linear dependence of this anistoropy on an electric field has also been observed, giving rise to the quantum confined Pockels Effect. All these intrinsic results which are forbidden by the usual envelope function theory compare fairly well with the predictions of the recently proposed model.