We design and experimentally report strain-compensated InGaAs/InAlAs coupled quantum wells with modified potential. At a lower applied electric field $\left(F=50\text{\hspace{0.17em} kV}/\text{cm}\right)$ , the calculated blueshift of the lowest excitonic peak is 40.6 meV. In the room-temperature photocurrent experiments, a maximum upward shift of the apparent peak position of more than 35 meV is observed with an external reverse bias of −4 V. Furthermore, a lower absorption loss $\left(\alpha =9.8{\text{cm}}^{-1}\right)$ and a large negative refractive index change $\left(\Delta n=-0.0095\right)$ are obtained at $1.55\mu \text{m}$ . This indicates that the strain-compensated InGaAs/InAlAs coupled quantum wells with modified potential have a great potential for application to reflection type electro-optical switches.