We study an asymmetric double InGaAs quantum well using optical two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy. The collection of zero-quantum, one-quantum and two-quantum two-dimensional spectra provides a unique and comprehensive picture of the double well coherent optical response. Coherent and incoherent contributions to the coupling between the two quantum well excitons are clearly separated. An excellent agreement with density matrix calculations reveals that coherent inter-well coupling originates from many-body interactions.Coupled quantum wells (QWs) are one of the most fundamental topics of quantum mechanics. They can be realized in epitaxially-grown semiconductor materials, where the coupling can be exploited in optoelectronic devices such as quantum cascade lasers [1]. Furthermore, since QW and barrier sizes can be tailored, coupled semiconductor QWs can serve as a model for other systems. For example, the absence of vibrational coupling in semiconductor QWs allows isolation of electronic coupling; this distinctive feature may help understanding extremely efficient energy transfer in light harvesting complexes, where the roles played by electronic and vibrational coupling are under debate [2][3][4][5]. Semiconductor double QWs (DQWs) have attracted theoretical and experimental attention for more than twenty years. The roles of resonant transfer and wavefunction hybridization [6][7][8], phonon-assisted tunneling [9,10], dipole-dipole coupling [11], percolation of carriers through imperfect barriers [12], and thermally activated charge transfer [13] have been studied and discussed, as well as the formation of indirect excitons [14,15]. However, the role played by many-body effects-which have been shown to dominate the coherent response of semiconductor excitons [16,17]-in the coupling mechanism has been neglected so far.We use optical two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy (2DCS) to characterize coupling between the QW excitons, which are electron-hole pairs bound together by their Coulomb attraction. 2DCS is an extension of transient four-wave-mixing (FWM) spectroscopy, with the addition of interferometric stabilization of inter-pulse delays and measurement of the signal field. It is an ideal technique to study coupling between resonances, since unfolding one-dimensional spectra onto a second dimension distinguishes quantum beats from polarization interferences [18]. Additionally, 2DCS has been demonstrated as a powerful tool for revealing many-body effects in semiconductor nanostructures [16,17]. Several types of 2D spectra-isolating zero-, one-, and two-quantum coherences-have been shown in previous work to reveal information that one-dimensional techniques cannot access [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26], but these different types of spectra have never been recorded and analyzed together for a single system so far. Previously, multidimensional spectroscopy showed electronic coherences between excitonic transitions of a GaAs/AlGaAs DQW [27][28][29]. However, the presence of heavy and light holes in each GaAs/Al...