We analyze experimental and simulated photoreflectance spectra of excitonic transitions in
semiconductors with a redefined set of fitting parameters in Aspnes' line shape function. The
redefinition, based on a comparison with the first derivative of a Gaussian, allows one to
directly relate these parameters to the observed experimental spectrum, making them
independent of the exponent m. None of the original information, including the underlying
physics involved as determined by m, is lost in this process. The physical significance of the …