Ballistic electron transport in AlAs quantum wells

We report the observation of commensurability oscillations in an AlAs two-dimensional electron system where two conduction-band valleys with elliptical in-plane Fermi contours are occupied. The Fourier power spectrum of the oscillations shows two frequency components consistent with those expected for the Fermi contours of the two valleys. From an analysis of the spectra we deduce m(l)/m(t)=5.2+/-0.5 for the ratio of the longitudinal and transverse electron effective masses, a fundamental parameter that cannot be directly measured from other transport experiments.