We have investigated infrared absorption properties at normal incidence inp‐type Ga1−xInxAs/Al1−yInyAs strained quantum wells. They are designed such that the ground state for holes is a light‐hole state, which results from the effects of biaxial tensile strain in the quantum wells. We find that in this light‐ and heavy‐hole inverted structure the infrared absorption from intervalence subband transitions can be greatly enhanced up to 8500 cm−1, which is comparable to that in the intrinsic Hg1−xCdxTe detector. This novel structure’s ability to detect infrared radiation at normal incidence makes it promising for infrared photodetection applications.