Photo-reflectance (PR) measurements provide a non-contact means for the precise characterization of semiconductor electronic properties. In this paper, we investigate the use of a laser beam as the probe beam in the PR setup. In this case it is seen that the nonlinear refraction is responsible for the amplitude change of the reflected probe field, whereas the phase change is due to nonlinear absorption. The open aperture condition may then be used to eliminate the spatial phase at the detector, thereby isolating the electro-refractive contribution to the PR signal. This greatly simplifies the PR analysis and allows absolute measurements of electro-refraction in thin semiconductor films. We report the application of the laser PR technique to characterize physical strain in thin silicon on silicon-germanium films. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.