Confinement of electronic states in ultimately narrow GaAs/GaP quantum wells

Resonant Raman scattering on GaAs/GaP quantum wells, as thin as one mono-atomic layer, is reported. The results concern the observation and interpretation of a strong emission and absorption of acoustic phonons. It is shown that diffraction of acoustic waves by the confined electronic states and interferences between quantum wells explain the observed low-frequency Raman spectra. Electronic density distributions in the growth direction are then obtained using a comparison between calculated and measured spectra.