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Physical Review A

Electron absorption by complex potentials: One-dimensional case

Patrici Molinàs-Mata, Pau Molinàs-Mata

Published Sep 1, 1996• 23 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate the electronic absorption induced by a complex potential in one-dimensional quantum mechanics. By solving the Schr\"odinger equation for spatially localized and extended complex potentials, we derive the electronic absorption coefficient \ensuremath{\alpha}. Neither a single nor a double Dirac-\ensuremath{\delta} potential can represent a totally absorbing potential (\ensuremath{\alpha}=1) for any choice of the complex amplitude of the potential. Maximum absorption coefficients for these potential types are 0.5 and 2(\ensuremath{\surd}2-1)\ensuremath{\simeq}0.828, respectively. On the contrary, wall and well potentials do account for total absorption at a particular limit of the potential parameters. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.54.2060

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We investigate the electronic absorption induced by a complex potential in one-dimensional quantum mechanics. By solving the Schr"odinger equation for spatially localized and extended complex potentials, we derive the electronic absorption coefficient \ensuremath{\alpha}. Neither a single nor a double Dirac-\ensuremath{\delta} potential can represent a totally absorbing potential (\ensuremath{\alpha}=1) for any choice of the complex amplitude of the potential. Maximum absorption coefficients for these potential types are 0.5 and 2(\ensuremath{\surd}2-1)\ensuremath{\simeq}0.828, respectively. On the contrary, wall and well potentials do account for total absorption at a particular limit of the potential parameters. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Total Absorption in Finite Time in an iδiδiδ Potential
We consider the evolution of Green's function of the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation in the presence of the complex potential −ikδ(x)-ikδ(x)−ikδ(x). Our result is the construction of an explicit time-dependent solution which we use to calculate the time-dependent survival probability of a quantum particle. The survival probability decays to zero in finite time, which means that the complex delta potential well is a total absorber for quantum particles. This potential can be interpreted as a killing measure with infinite killing rate concentrated at the origin.
In quantum mechanics, among the proposals for how to compute the probability distribution of detection time and place along a given spatial surface or in a given volume, two leading candidates involve absorbing boundary conditions (ABCs) and complex absorbing potentials (CAPs) for the Schrödinger equation. Here, we extend earlier results on how the two are related. It was previously shown that ABCs arise as a limiting case of CAPs, but for that a (reflecting) Neumann boundary condition was assumed at the end of the region with the CAP. Here, we obtain ABCs in a different limit using a Dirichlet boundary condition at the end of the CAP region, which seems more practically relevant and realizable.
Abstract The dynamics of absorption is analyzed by using an exactly solvable model that deals with an analytical solution to Schrödinger’s equation for cutoff initial plane waves incident on a complex absorbing potential. A dynamical absorption coefficient which allows us to explore the dynamical loss of particles from the transient to the stationary regime is derived. We find that the absorption process is characterized by the emission of a series of damped periodic pulses in time domain, associated with damped Rabi-type oscillations with a characteristic frequency, ω = ( E + ε )/ℏ, where E is the energy of the incident waves and − ε is energy of the quasidiscrete state of the system induced by the absorptive part of the Hamiltonian; the width γ of this resonance governs the amplitude of the pulses. The resemblance of the time-dependent absorption coefficient with a real decay process is discussed, in particular the transition from exponential to nonexponential regimes, a well-known feature of quantum decay. We have also analyzed the effect of the absorptive part of the potential on the dynamical delay time, which behaves differently from the one observed in attractive real delta potentials, exhibiting two regimes: time advance and time delay.
A consistent scheme is proposed for quantizing the potential amplitude in the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation in the case of negative energies (lying in the discrete-spectrum domain). The properties of the eigenfunctions ϕ n ( x ) and eigenvalues α n corresponding to zero, small, and large absolute values of energy E < 0 are analyzed. Expansion in the set ϕ n ( x ) is used to develop a regular perturbation theory (for E < 0), and a general expression is found for the Green function associated with the time-independent Schrödinger equation. A similar method is used to solve several physical problems: the polarizability of a weakly bound quantum-mechanical system, the two-center problem, and the tunneling of slow particles through a potential barrier (or over a potential well). In particular, it is shown that the transmission coefficient for slow particles is anomalously large (on the order of unity) in the case of an attractive potential is characterized by certain critical values of well depth. The proposed approach is advantageous in that it does not require the use of continuum states.
This paper presents several cases in which the effects of the addition of a delta function potential on bound states can be computed exactly. In the case of the one dimensional Schrödinger equation, a Green’s function technique is used to compute an exact implicit expression that gives the effect of the one−dimensional delta function potential on the bound states eigenvalues. It is also shown that the weak coupling limit of the implicit expression agrees with the perturbative treatment of the delta function. It is pointed out that this technique cannot be applied to obtain an exact treatment of the delta function potential δ3(r) in the three−dimensional Schrödinger equation. Instead, an alternate definition of the delta function in three dimensions as a limit of a sequence of square well potentials is used. Unlike the one dimensional case, the exact effect on the eigenvalue does not agree in the limit of weak coupling with the perturbative results. This indicates that the three−dimensional delta function potential should not be used to approximate strongly coupled short range potentials for which perturbation theory is inadequate.
Abstract In this paper, we propose a pedagogical presentation of the Lippmann–Schwinger equation as a powerful tool, so as to obtain important scattering information. In particular, we consider a one-dimensional system with a Schrödinger-type free Hamiltonian decorated with a sequence of N attractive Dirac delta interactions. We first write the Lippmann–Schwinger equation for the system and then solve it explicitly in terms of an N × N matrix. Then, we discuss the reflection and the transmission coefficients for an arbitrary number of centres and study the threshold anomaly for the N = 2 and N = 4 cases. We also study further features like the quantum metastable states and resonances, including their corresponding Gamow functions and virtual or antibound states. The use of the Lippmann–Schwinger equation simplifies our analysis enormously and gives exact results for an arbitrary number of Dirac delta potentials.