Frustrated Total Internal Reflection applied to Quantum Tunneling

Fabio Cardone A, Sergei P. Maydanyuk, R. Mignani +1 more

Kheng Wye Chong

Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR) has been researched since the time of Sir Issac Newton. In this paper, its application in modern optics is reviewed. A theoretical description of the phenomenon is presented beginning with Snell’s Law. The analogy between FTIR and quantum tunneling in one dimension is discussed. A quantitative and inexpensive method of demonstrating FTIR based on the attenuation of a microwave through an air gap between two wax prisms is described and a quantitative comparison of the theory with experiment is made. An extension of FTIR using microwave, as it is used in an Evanescent Wave Atomic Force Microscope (EW-AFM), is looked into and evaluated.

Anedio Ranfagni, Paolo Moretti, Ilaria Cacciari +1 more

Tunneling processes in frustrated total internal reflection are reexamined in order to compare the results already obtained from adopting a procedure based on a transition-element analysis with those recently reported on the basis of a statistical method applied to a Brownian-like motion. A close agreement between the two approaches can be established, at optical and microwave scales, when suitable values of the involved parameters are adopted.

二三夫 小山, FUMIO KOYAMA, KENICHI IGA

A. A. Stahlhofen

Frustrated total internal reflection is considered as the classical analog of quantum-mechanical tunneling. Here the tunneling time in frustrated total internal reflection is discussed. It is shown that the phase time allows for vanishing and negative barrier traversal times. The tunneling time is shown to be dominated by a time scale based on the Goos-H\"anchen shift. The role of further nonspecular deformations of the transmitted beam is addressed. The resulting tunneling times are compared with experimental data.