A modest proposal concerning tunneling times

Μ. Büttiker, Rolf W. Landauer

When a particle tunnels through a barrier it interacts with that barrier for a time that has been analysed by the authors. An appreciable number of other investigators have, with modest variations, come to the same result. Collins, Lowe and Barker (1987) have criticised this approach and advocated an older answer which depends primarily on the phase changes encountered at the turning points of the barrier, and not on barrier thickness, nor on the exact potential variation within the barrier. This is a rebuttal of their criticism.

N. Yamada

Francis E. Low, Paul F. Mende

Zhong Chao Wu

All paradoxes concerning faster-than-light signal propagation reported in recent experiments can be dispelled by using imaginary time in a quantum framework. I present a proposal of testing imaginary time in a total reflection.

Christian Bracher, Wilhelm Becker, S. A. Gurvitz +2 more

We provide an elementary case study of field-induced quantum tunneling in a realistic three-dimensional environment which exhibits both tunneling and classically allowed motion. An analytic description is presented for ballistic motion in a uniform electric field. From there we derive simple expressions concerning the wave function for field emission from an ultrathin quantum well in the tunneling limit. At the same time a wave-packet description of the tunneling process is obtained. The tunneling time can be read off from the lateral spread of the tunneling current distribution.