Resonance-enhanced group delay times in an asymmetric single quantum barrier

It is shown that transmission and reflection group delay times in an asymmetric single quantum barrier are greatly enhanced by the transmission resonance when the energy of incident particles is larger than the height of the barrier. The resonant transmission group delay is of the order of the quasibound state lifetime in the barrier region. The reflection group delay can be either positive or negative, depending on the relative height of the potential energies on the two sides of the barrier. Its magnitude is much larger than the quasibound state lifetime. These predictions have been observed in microwave experiments.     

Study of a quantum scattering process by means of entropic measures

In this Letter, a scattering process of quantum particles through a potential barrier is considered. The statistical complexity and the Fisher–Shannon information are calculated for this problem. The behaviour of these entropy-information measures as a function of the energy of the incident particles is compared with the behaviour of a physical magnitude, the reflection coefficient in the barrier. We find that these statistical magnitudes present their minimum values in the same situations in which the reflection coefficient is null. These are the situations where the total transmission through the barrier is achieved, the transparency points, a typical phenomenon due to the quantum nature of the system.     

Quantum conductance through a uniform scatterer in a narrow-wire semiconductor

The quantum conductance for electrons scattering from a uniform scatterer in a narrow-wire semiconductor is calculated. Instead of getting the conductance directly from the calculation of transmission coefficient, we calculate the reflection coefficient instead. The transmission coefficient is then calculated by using the conservation law, T=I−R. This alternative method can avoid the instability of the conductance obtained by including more evanescent modes for a finite-range scatterer in a narrow-wire semiconductor. This method is applied to a semi-infinite strip potential barrier and a rectangular potential barrier in a narrow wire. The quantum stepwise conductance is obtained in both cases. For a repulsive rectangular potential barrier, there are oscillations in each stepwise conductance. For an attractive rectangular potential barrier, there exist multiple quasi-bound states below the sub-band energies which can cause the drop of the quantum conductance. The effect of the continuum quasi-bound states diminishes as the energy of the incident electron increases, but the influence of the discrete quasi-bound states still persists.     

Energy-momentum quanta in Fresnel's evanescent wave II

Four generalisations of results appearing in a previous paper, referred to as I, are here produced. (1) Formulas for the field strengths of the evanescent wave generated inside a vacuum sandwiched between two identical refracting media propagating symmetrical incident plane waves; the classical exponential damping factor being then replaced by hyperbolic cosines or sines (according to the field components), an extremely close approximation to a plane tachyon wave is thus obtained; (2) Compact formulas for the case where the evanescent wave is generated by a superposition of plane incident waves with propagation vectors k parallel to a common incidence plane; (3) Compact formulas for the other typical case where the dispersion on k is parallel to the reflecting plane; (4) Formulas for refraction and total reflection of a photon with a non-zero rest mass.We take the opportunity of this paper to review briefly various articles that had escaped us, where a transverse energy flux inside Fresnel's evanescent wave was discussed, and also some recent papers dealing with quantisation of the evanescent wave or related topics.     

光在一维光子晶体中的全反射贯穿效应

为了研究一维光子晶体中光波的全反射贯穿效应,利用传输矩阵法计算了TE波和TM波在大于全反射角入射一维光子晶体的透射率.在透射波中发现了全反射贯穿效应,得出了全反射贯穿效应随入射角的变化规律、全反射贯穿效应的波长特性以及全反射贯穿效应随介质光学厚度的变化规律.利用波的量子理论和渐逝波的理论对一维光子晶体的全反射贯穿效应作出了理论解释.     

Traversal time for Dirac particles through a potential barrier

A traversal time that has no problem of superluminality was advanced for particles to tunnel through potential barriers in the non‐relativistic quantum theory in a previous paper by C.‐F. Li and Q. Wang, Physica B 296 (2001) 356. This time is generalized in this paper to Dirac's relativistic quantum theory. Both evanescent and propagating cases are considered. It is shown that the traversal time in the evanescent case has much the same properties as in the non‐relativistic quantum theory and thus has no problem of superluminality. It also gets rid of the problem of superluminality in the propagating case. Comparisons with the dwell time, the group delay, and the velocity of monochromatic front are also made.     

Klein Paradox and Disorder-Induced Delocalization of Dirac in Quasiparticles in One-Dimensional Systems

Dirac particle penetration is studied theoretically with Dirac equation in one-dimensional systems. We investigate a one-dimensional system with N barriers where both barrier height and well width are constants randomlydistributed in certain range. The one-parameter scaling theory for nonrelativistic particles is still valid for massive Dirac particles. In the same disorder sample, we find that the localization length of relativistic particles is always larger than that of nonrelativistic particles and the transmission coefficient related to incident particle in both cases fits the form T ∽ exp(-α_L). More interesting, massless relativistic particles are entirely delocalized no matter how big the energy of incident particles is.     

自旋—轨道耦合下冷原子的双反射

随着中性冷原子气体的人造自旋-轨道耦合的实验实现,近年来人们开始关注与之相关的可能应用,其中包括自旋-轨道耦合下原子反射镜的研究.本文在前人研究的基础上,考虑一束自旋-轨道耦合的冷原子气体入射到有限高势垒的情形,通过将部分反射和全反射情况进行对比,发现了与之前研究不同的性质.我们发现,在全反射条件下,反射原子的极化率随入射角变化较大,而随自旋-轨道耦合强度和原子入射能量的变化较小.但在发生部分反射的情况下,反射原子的极化率不仅随入射角变化较大,随自旋-轨道耦合强度和原子的入射能量变化也十分明显.我们仔细研究了自旋-轨道耦合原子气体的反射性质并讨论了其可能的应用.     

Goos-Hänchen-like shifts for Dirac fermions in monolayer graphene barrier

The quantum Goos-H?nchen effect in graphene is found to be the lateral shift of Dirac fermions on the total reflection at a single p-n interface. In this paper, we investigate the lateral shifts of Dirac fermions in transmission through a monolayer graphene barrier. Compared to the smallness of the lateral shifts in total reflection, the lateral shifts can be enhanced by the transmission resonances when the incidence angle is less than the critical angle for total reflection. It is also found that the lateral shifts, as the function of the barrier’s width and incidence angle, can be negative and positive in the cases of Klein tunneling and classical motion. The modulation of the lateral shifts can be realized by changing the electrostatic potential and induced gap, which gives rise to some applications in graphene-based devices.     

Tunable electronic transmission gaps in a graphene superlattice

The transmission in graphene superlattices with adjustable barrier height is investigated using transfer-matrix method. It is found that one could control the angular range of transmission by changing the ratio of incidence energy and barrier height. The transmission as a function of incidence energy has more than one gaps, due to the appearance of evanescent waves in different barriers. Accordingly, more than one conductivity minimums are induced. The transmission gaps could be controlled by adjusting the incidence angle, the barrier height, and the barrier number, which gives the possibility to construct an energy-dependent wavevector filter.     

Manipulation of Particles with Counter-Propagating Evanescent Waves

Two counter-propagating evanescent beams are used to align and manipulate polystyrene particles on a prism surface. Since the radiation pressure transferred laterally from the evanescent wave is negated on both sides, particles can be stably aligned. By projecting a circular and a linear beam spot onto the interface, both multiple and single arrays of particles are achieved. Arrays of particles trapped on the interface can be easily moved adjusting the intensity of incident beams on either side. We also simulate electromagnetic distribution of scattering light that is converted from the evanescent wave using the FDTD method. The results show that scattering light converts from an evanescent wave propagating through a particle array and has a distance longer than that propagating from a normal evanescent wave.     

Salecker-Wigner-Peres clock and average tunneling times

The quantum clock of Salecker-Wigner-Peres is used, by performing a post-selection of the final state, to obtain average transmission and reflection times associated to the scattering of localized wave packets by static potentials in one dimension. The behavior of these average times is studied for a Gaussian wave packet, centered around a tunneling wave number, incident on a rectangular barrier and, in particular, on a double delta barrier potential. The regime of opaque barriers is investigated and the results show that the average transmission time does not saturate, showing no evidence of the Hartman effect (or its generalized version).     

Classical tunneling

A classical representation of an extended body over barriers of height greater than the energy of the incident body is shown to have many features in common with quantum tunneling as the center-of-mass literally goes through the barrier. It is even classically possible to penetrate any finite barrier with a body of arbitrarily low energy if the body is sufficiently long. A distribution of body lengths around the de Broglie wavelength leads to reasonable agreement with the quantum transmission coefficient.     

New approach to the quantum tunneling process: Characteristic times for transmission and reflection

In [1] we have demonstrated that scattering of a quantum particle on a one-dimensional potential barrier should be considered as a combined process involving two alternative elementary transmission and reflection processes. For symmetric potential barriers, we have found solutions of the Schrödinger equation which describe the transmission and reflection processes in all stages of scattering. The present work studies time aspects of both processes. The local and asymptotic group tunneling times, dwell time, and Larmor tunneling time are determined for each process. Among these time characteristics, the group tunneling times should be considered as auxiliary. As to the dwell and Larmor tunneling times, they are the best estimates (of the expected values) of times the quantum particle in stationary and localized nonstationary states dwells in the barrier region. Moreover, the Larmor time is simply the dwell time averaged over the corresponding ensemble of particles. This characteristic can be measured experimentally and hence the suggested model of scattering can be verified.     

Plasmons and polaritons in a semi-infinite plasma and a plasma slab

Plasmon and polariton modes are derived for an ideal semi-infinite (half-space) plasma and an ideal plasma slab by using a general, unifying procedure, based on equations of motion, Maxwell's equations and suitable boundary conditions. Known results are re-obtained in much a more direct manner and new ones are derived. The approach consists of representing the charge disturbances by a displacement field in the positions of the moving particles (electrons). The dielectric response and the electron energy loss are computed. The surface contribution to the energy loss exhibits an oscillatory behaviour in the transient regime near the surfaces. The propagation of an electromagnetic wave in these plasmas is treated by using the retarded electromagnetic potentials. The resulting integral equations are solved and the reflected and refracted waves are computed, as well as the reflection coefficient. For the slab we compute also the transmitted wave and the transmission coefficient. Generalized Fresnel's relations are thereby obtained for any incidence angle and polarization. Bulk and surface plasmon-polariton modes are identified. As it is well known, the field inside the plasma is either damped (evanescent) or propagating (transparency regime), and the reflection coefficient for a semi-infinite plasma exhibits an abrupt enhancement on passing from the propagating regime to the damped one (total reflection). Similarly, apart from characteristic oscillations, the reflection and transmission coefficients for a plasma slab exhibit an appreciable enhancement in the damped regime.     

Quantum nature of proton transferring across one-dimensional potential fields

Proton transfer plays a key role in the applications of advanced energy materials as well as in the functionalities of biological systems.In this work,based on the transfer matrix method,we study the quantum effects of proton transfer in a series of one-dimensional(1 D) model potentials and numerically calculate the quantum probability of transferring across single and double barriers(wells).In the case of single barriers,when the incident energies of protons are above the barrier height,the quantum oscillations in the transmission coefficients depend on the geometric shape of the barriers.It is found that atomic resonant tunneling(ART) not only presents in the rectangular single well and rectangular double barriers as expected,but also exists in the other types of potential wells and double barriers.For hetero-structured double barriers,there is no resonant tunneling in the classical forbidden zone,i.e.,in the case when the incident energy(E_i) is lower than the barrier height(E_b).Furthermore,we have provided generalized analysis on the characteristics of transmission coefficients of hetero-structured rectangular double barriers.     

Broadband and broad-angle asymmetric acoustic transmission by unbalanced excitation of surface evanescent waves based on single-layer metasurface

Currently, complicated structure, incident-angle selectivity, and narrow frequency band are the key drawbacks of the asymmetric acoustic transmission (AAT) devices. Here we tackle these problems by proposing a class of single-layer lossy acoustic metasurfaces. The broadband AAT performance is realized in a broad range of incident angles. When the incident angle is in the range between two critical values, which are derived in this paper, an external sound wave can be converted into an evanescent mode, and the total internal reflection occurs for backward sound. The incident sound wave can be negatively refracted for forward sound if the evanescent mode conversion condition is broken, representing the realization of the AAT. However, the AAT phenomenon cannot be observed outside of the range defined above. The proposed design of highly efficient broad-angle AAT can find applications in sound sensing and noise control.     

Dwell time in one-dimensional graphene asymmetrical barrier

The authors have investigated theoretically the dwell time of Dirac fermions tunneling through electrostatic square barrier in monolayer graphene, including asymmetrical and symmetrical potential barriers. It is found that the incident angle determines the critical incident energy. When the incident energy is larger than the critical incident energy, the dwell time saturate with the increase of the barrier thickness. But when the incident energy is smaller than the critical incident energy, the dwell time oscillates with the increase of the barrier thickness. The behaviors of oscillation and saturation of the dwell time are related with the transmission probability. These results may be helpful for the basic physics and potential application of graphene based electronic devices.     

Quantum superarrivals and information transfer through a time-varying boundary

The time-dependent Schrödinger equation is solved numerically for the case of a Gaussian wave packet incident on a time-varying potential barrier. The time evolving reflection and transmission probabilities of the wave packet are computed for several different time-dependent boundary conditions obtained by reducing or increasing the height of the potential barrier. We show that in the case when the barrier height is reduced to zero, a time interval is found during which the reflection probability is larger (superarrivals) compared to the unperturbed case. We further show that the transmission probability exhibits superarrivals when the barrier is raised from zero to a finite value of its height. Superarrivals could be understood by ascribing the features of a real physical field to the Schrödinger wave function which acts as a carrier through which a disturbance, resulting from the boundary condition being perturbed, prpagates from the barrier to the detectors measuring reflected and transmitted probabilities. The speed of propagation of this effect depends upon the rate of reducing or raising the barrier height, thus suggesting an application for secure information transfer using superarrivals.     

Dynamics at the air-water interface revealed by evanescent wave light scattering

A new tool to study surface phenomena by evanescent wave light scattering is employed for an investigation of an aqueous surface through the water phase. When the angle of incidence passes the critical angle of total internal reflection, a high and narrow scattering peak is observed. It is discussed as an enhancement of scattering at critical angle illumination. Peak width and height are affected by the interfacial profile and the focusing of the beam. In addition, the propagation of capillary waves was studied at the surface of pure water and in the presence of latex particles and amphiphilic diblock copolymers. The range of the scattering vectors where propagating surface waves were detected is by far wider than standard surface quasi-elastic light scattering (SQELS) and comparable with those of X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS).