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Journal of Mathematical Physics

Propagator for finite range potentials

Ilaria Cacciari, Paolo Moretti

Published Dec 1, 2006• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Schrödinger equation in integral form is applied to the one-dimensional scattering problem in the case of a general finite range, nonsingular potential. A simple expression for the Laplace transform of the transmission propagator is obtained in terms of the associated Fredholm determinant, by means of matrix methods; the particular form of the kernel and the peculiar aspects of the transmission problem play an important role. The application to an array of delta potentials is shown.

DOI
10.1063/1.2401728

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The Schrödinger equation in integral form is applied to the one-dimensional scattering problem in the case of a general finite range, nonsingular potential. A simple expression for the Laplace transform of the transmission propagator is obtained in terms of the associated Fredholm determinant, by means of matrix methods; the particular form of the kernel and the peculiar aspects of the transmission problem play an important role. The application to an array of delta potentials is shown.
Scattering by a one-dimensional potential V=V(x) which is constant outside (-a, a) (a>0) is investigated. Exact expressions for the transmission and reflection coefficients are obtained in terms of f 0 (a), f 1 (a), f' O (a) and f' 1 (a), where f 0 and f 1 are the solutions in (-a, a) satisfying the boundary conditions f 0 (-a)=1, f 0 '(-a)=0, f 1 (-a)=0 and f 1 '(-a)=1. These expressions are used to show that the first-order WKB approximation conserves particles. Numerical results are obtained from these expressions for the transmission and reflection probabilities by (i) using the WKB formulae and (ii) solving the time-independent Schrodinger equation numerically in (-a, a). The time T for the centre of a wavepacket to traverse the interval (-a, a) is also obtained in terms of f 0 (a), f 1 (a), f 0 '(a) and f 1 '(a), and some of its properties studied. In particular, it is shown that T takes the classical form in the classical limit.
We show that application of the immersing and transfer-matrix methods to one-dimensional problems of particles scattering leads to the system of two linear equations for the functions F and Φ expressed by means of the transmission and reflection amplitudes. The expressions of these functions are derived. The offered method is illustrated by the finding of transmission and reflection coefficients for the potential barrier with a constant height. The developed method can be applied in solving the quasi-one-dimensional and two-dimensional problems of scattering.
We give a pedagogical introduction to time-independent scattering theory in one dimension focusing on the basic properties and recent applications of transfer matrices. In particular, we begin surveying some basic notions of potential scattering such as transfer matrix and its analyticity, multi-delta-function and locally periodic potentials, Jost solutions, spectral singularities and their time-reversal, and unidirectional reflectionlessness and invisibility. We then offer a simple derivation of the Lippmann-Schwinger equation and Born series, and discuss the Born approximation. Next, we outline a recently developed dynamical formulation of time-independent scattering theory in one dimension. This formulation relates the transfer matrix and therefore the solution of the scattering problem for a given potential to the solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for an effective non-unitary two-level quantum system. We provide a self-contained treatment of this formulation and some of its most important applications. Specifically, we use it to devise a powerful alternative to the Born series and Born approximation, derive dynamical equations for the reflection and transmission amplitudes, discuss their application in constructing exact tunable unidirectionally invisible potentials, and use them to provide an exact solution for single-mode inverse scattering problems. The latter, which has important applications in designing optical devices with a variety of functionalities, amounts to providing an explicit construction for a finite-range complex potential whose reflection and transmission amplitudes take arbitrary prescribed values at any given wavenumber.