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Journal of Applied Physics

Exact solution of the Schrodinger equation across an arbitrary one-dimensional piecewise-linear potential barrier

Wayne W. Lui, Masao Fukuma

Published Sep 1, 1986• 208 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A simple yet exact method of solving the Schrodinger equation across an arbitrary one-dimensional piecewise-linear potential is described. It is based on the analytical solution of the Schrodinger equation across a linear potential, where the solution can be expressed as a linear combination of the Airy functions. Proper boundary conditions are imposed at the interface between adjacent linear intervals of the potential, and a transfer-matrix procedure is utilized in the derivation. The quantum mechanical transmission coefficient across a potential barrier and eigenenergies of a potential well can also be easily calculated using this method.

DOI
10.1063/1.337788

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A simple yet exact method of solving the Schrodinger equation across an arbitrary one-dimensional piecewise-linear potential is described. It is based on the analytical solution of the Schrodinger equation across a linear potential, where the solution can be expressed as a linear combination of the Airy functions. Proper boundary conditions are imposed at the interface between adjacent linear intervals of the potential, and a transfer-matrix procedure is utilized in the derivation. The quantum mechanical transmission coefficient across a potential barrier and eigenenergies of a potential well can also be easily calculated using this method.
A simple, yet accurate, method of solving the Schrödinger equation across an arbitrary potential barrier is described, based on the analytic transfer-matrix technique. This paper gives the final analytical expression for the transmission probability. Numerical calculations for four typical potential barrier structures are compared with the traditional WKB, modified WKB and the modified Airy function (MAF) methods. Excellent agreement with an exact example is demonstrated. Most importantly, in cases where other potential-barrier methods fail, our method performs well.
We derive analytic expressions of the recursive solutions to the Schrödinger's equation by means of a cutoff potential technique for one-dimensional piecewise constant potentials. These solutions provide a method for accurately determining the transmission probabilities as well as the wave function in both classically accessible region and inaccessible region for any barrier potentials. It is also shown that the energy eigenvalues and the wave functions of bound states can be obtained for potential-well structures by exploiting this method. Calculational results of illustrative examples are shown in order to verify this method for treating barrier and potential-well problems.
The transfer-matrix method was proposed in the 1940s to solve linear ordinary differential equations.It is broadly studied due to its efficiency and simplicity for solving one-dimensional physical problems.In this work, the method is applied to solve the timeindependent Schrödinger equation, in order to improve both the formalism and the computational treatment.Closed-form solutions are derived for quantum wells and periodic potentials of arbitrary profiles.Numerical results are given for symmetric finite-barrier quantum wells and sinusoidal potentials.
A simle numerical method of calculating transmission coefficients across arbitrary potentials is presented by using the combination of a transfer matrix procedure and the solution of the wave functions in arbitrary potentials.This method is applied to a parabolic potential and a double barrier potential in an electric field.The transmission coefficients calculated are in agreement with those obtained using a multistep potential approximation.The wave functions at the resonant states are also given for the two examples.
In this paper, we examine transmission through one-dimensional potential barriers that are piecewise constant. The transfer matrix approach is adopted, and a new formula is derived for multiplying long matrix sequences that not only leads to an elegant representation of the wave function but also results in much faster computation than earlier methods. The proposed method covers a broad spectrum of potentials, of which multi-barrier systems are special cases. The procedure is illustrated with a finite lattice of nonuniform rectangular barriers—non-uniformity being a novel feature, as the uniform case has been solved exactly by Griffiths and Steinke. For the nonuniform multi-barrier problem, the intervening wells strongly influence the transmission probability. Surprisingly, we find that the wells act “individually,” i.e., their influence is a function only of their width and is independent of their exact locations in a multi-barrier system. This finding leads to an observation that we have termed the “alias effect.” The exact solutions are supplemented with asymptotic formulas.