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European Journal of Physics

Spatial and temporal description of electron diffraction through a double slit at the nanometer scale

Alejandro Castellanos-Jaramillo, Arnulfo Castellanos-Moreno

Published Aug 24, 2018• 7 citations

Abstract

Abstract The goal of this paper is to study double-slit diffraction at the nanometric scale. We treat the time evolution of a Gaussian wave packet in quantum mechanics traveling until it reaches a double-slit wall. A detailed investigation and analysis of the diffraction phenomenon and its progress is developed by numerically solving the Schrödinger equation. This is written using a potential intended to model the wall. It is solved by using finite differences in the time domain method, so that the probability amplitude, ψ , is obtained as a function of the spatial coordinates at discretized times. Then, the probability density, ρ , is found in a straightforward way and used to plot graphics or make videos. Furthermore, the time evolution of the wave packet is registered at several fixed points to acquire local information. Fourier transforms are calculated to complement the knowledge obtained. Students interested in didactic approaches, or in applications for nanodevices, could find interest in this approach.

DOI: 10.1088/1361-6404/aadcd7

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Abstract In this paper propagation of matter wave of particles is modeled using the Fourier optics approach. In first step the Schrödinger equation of quantum mechanics is used to find the wave function of the particle. In the second step Fourier optics is employed to model the diffraction of the wave function of the particle through single and double slits. The results of the calculations are presented as graphs of diffraction patterns. The results of the presented method are compared to the existing results in the literature (with different methods) to check the validity of the introduced model. It is shown that the Fourier optics approach is applicable to matter wave of particles in diffraction through slits.

In this paper we numerically solve the time dependent Schrödinger equation for scenarios using wave packets. These examples include the free wave packet, which we use to show the difference between group and phase velocities, the packet in a harmonic oscillator potential with non-trivial initial conditions in one and two dimensions, which is compared with their classical analogs to show how Ehrenfest theorem holds. We also include simulations of the diffraction through the single and double slit potentials, the refraction with a step potential and the dispersion by a central potential. The aim of this paper is to illustrate with simulations, nowadays easy to implement, scenarios that can help explaining the basics of the wave-particle duality.