Journal of Physics A Mathematical and General
Energy eigenvalues for the systems with position-dependent effective mass
Y C Ou, Zhuangqi Cao, Qishun Shen
Abstract
Based on the analytical transfer matrix method (ATMM), the universal dispersion equation determining the energy spectrum for an arbitrary potential function experienced by a particle with arbitrary position-dependent effective mass distribution is obtained. As an illustrative example, for a given mass distribution m ( x ) and a potential function V ( x ), our predicted results are in complete agreement with the exact ones. The energy spectrum of a harmonic oscillator with nonconstant mass is obtained. Since the exact solutions to Schrödinger equation with nonconstant effective mass are a valuable means for checking and improving models and numerical methods in the study of electronic properties, the ATMM will find wide applications in material science and condensed matter.