Despite quantum tunneling has been studied since the advent of quantum mechanics, the literature appears to contain no simple (textbook) formula for tunneling in generic asymmetric double-well potentials. In the regime of strong localization, we derive an succinct analytical formula based on the WKB semi-classical approach. Two different examples of asymmetric potentials are discussed: when the two localized levels are degenerate or not. For the first case, we also discuss a time-dependent problem showing quantum Zeno effect.
We report the first experimental observation of the resonance-assisted dynamical tunneling (RADT) in the inter-mode interaction in an asymmetric-deformed microcavity. A selection rule for strong inter-mode coupling induced by RADT was observed on angular mode numbers as predicted by the RADT theory. In addition, the coupling strength was measured to be proportional to the square of the phase-space area associated with the nonlinear resonance involved in RADT. The proportionality constant was found to depend only on the nonlinear resonance, supporting the semiclassical nature of RADT.
The level splitting formula of an asymmetric double well potential is calculated taking into account the multi-instanton contributions (dilute gas approximation). Results can be related with known semiclassical ones obtained with a truncated hamiltonian, and the symmetric case is easily recovered.
We propose an asymmetric double quantum well structure with a common continuum and investigate the effect of resonant tunneling on the control of coherent electron population transfer between the two quantum wells. By numerically solving the motion equations of element moments, the almost complete electron population transfer from initial subband to the target subband could be realized due to the constructive interference via flexibly adjusting the structure parameters.
We have studied dynamical properties and quantum tunneling in asymmetric double-well (DW) systems, by solving Schrödinger equation with the use of two kinds of spectral methods for initially squeezed Gaussian wavepackets. Time dependences of wavefunction, averages of position and momentum, the auto-correlation function, an uncertainty product and the tunneling probability have been calculated. Our calculations have shown that (i) the tunneling probability is considerably reduced by a potential asymmetry $ΔU$, (ii) a resonant tunneling with $|ΔU| \simeq κ\:\hbar ω$ is realized for motion starti…
An asymmetric double-well potential is considered, assuming that the minima of the wells are quadratic with a frequency $ω$ and the difference of the minima is close to a multiple of $\hbar ω$. A WKB wave function is constructed on both sides of the local maximum between the wells, by matching the WKB function to the exact wave functions near the classical turning points. The continuities of the wave function and its first derivative at the local maximum then give the energy-level splitting formula, which not only reproduces the instanton result for a symmetric potential, but also elucidates t…
A local impurity usually only strongly affects few single-particle energy levels, thus cannot induce a quantum phase transition (QPT), or any macroscopic quantum phenomena in a many-body system within the Hermitian regime. However, it may happen for a non-Hermitian impurity. We investigate the many-body ground state property of a one-dimensional tight-binding ring with an embedded single asymmetrical dimer based on exact solutions. We introduce the concept of semi-localization state to describe a new quantum phase, which is a crossover from extended to localized state. The peculiar feature is …
Using a simple model for nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling between two energy bands of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a periodic potential, we find that the tunneling rates for the two directions of tunneling are not the same. Tunneling from the ground state to the excited state is enhanced by the nonlinearity, whereas in the opposite direction it is suppressed. These findings are confirmed by numerical simulations of the condensate dynamics. Measuring the tunneling rates for a condensate of rubidium atoms in an optical lattice, we have found experimental evidence for this asymmetry.
An asymmetric double quantum wells (QWs) structure with resonant tunneling is suggested to achieve high efficient four wave mixing (FWM). We analytically demonstrate that the resonant tunneling can induce high efficient mixing wave in such a semiconductor structure with a low light pump wave. In particular, the FWM conversion efficiency can be enhanced dramatically in the vicinity of the center frequency. This interesting scheme may be used to generate coherent long-wavelength radiation in solid-state system.
An asymmetric double-well potential is considered, assuming that the wells are parabolic around the minima. The WKB wave function of a given energy is constructed inside the barrier between the wells. By matching the WKB function to the exact wave functions of the parabolic wells on both sides of the barrier, for two almost degenerate states, we find a quantization condition for the energy levels which reproduces the known energy splitting formula between the two states. For the other low-lying non-degenerate states, we show that the eigenfunction should be primarily localized in one of the we…
We study the full-fledged microscopic dynamics of two interacting, ultracold bosons in a one- dimensional double-well potential, through the numerically exact diagonalization of the many-body Hamiltonian. With the particles initially prepared in the left well, we increase the width of the right well in subsequent trap realizations and witness how the tunneling oscillations evolve into particle loss. In this closed system, we analyze the spectral signatures of single- and two-particle tunneling for the entire range of repulsive interactions. We conclude that for comparable widths of the two wel…
Klein tunneling and conductance for Dirac fermions in ABC-stacked trilayer graphene (ABC-TLG) through symmetric and asymmetric double potential barriers are investigated using the two and six-band continuum model. Numerical results for our system show that the transport is sensitive to the height, the width and the distance between the two barriers. Klein paradox at normal incidence and resonant features at non-normal incidence in the transmission result from resonant electron states in the wells or hole states in the barriers and strongly influence the ballistic conductance of the structures.
We investigate quantum tunneling in smooth symmetric and asymmetric double-well potentials. Exact solutions for the ground and first excited states are used to study the dynamics. We introduce Wigner's quasi-probability distribution function to highlight and visualize the non-classical nature of spatial correlations arising in tunneling.
The perfect quenching of spin tunneling first predicted for a model with biaxial symmetry, and recently observed in the magnetic molecule Fe_8, is further studied using the discrete phase integral (or Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin) method. The analysis of the previous paper is extended to the case where the magnetic field has both hard and easy components, so that the Hamiltonian has no obvious symmetry. Herring's formula is now inapplicable, so the problem is solved by finding the wavefunction and using connection formulas at every turning point. A general formula for the energy surface in the vi…
Quantum mechanical real-time tunneling through general scattering potentials is studied in the semiclassical limit. It is shown that the exact path integral of the real-time propagator is dominated in the long time sector by quasi-stationary fluctuations associated with caustics. This leads to an extended semiclassical propagation scheme for wave packet dynamics which accurately describes deep tunneling through static and, for the first time, driven barrier potentials.
Electron tunneling into a system with strong interactions is known to exhibit an anomaly, in which the tunneling conductance vanishes continuously at low energy due to many-body interactions. Recent measurements have probed this anomaly in a quantum Hall bilayer of the half-filled Landau level, and shown that the anomaly apparently gets stronger as the half-filled Landau level is increasingly spin polarized. Motivated by this result, we construct a semiclassical hydrodynamic theory of the tunneling anomaly in terms of the charge-spreading action associated with tunneling between two copies of …
We study the quantum tunnel effect through a potential barrier employing a semiclassical formulation of quantum mechanics based on expectation values of configuration variables and quantum dispersions as dynamical variables. The evolution of the system is given in terms of a dynamical system for which we are able to determine effective trajectories for individual particles, in a total resemblance of the Bohmian description of quantum mechanics. We obtain a type of semiclassical confinement for particles in a similar way as with the quantum potential, and also determine a semiclassical transmis…
We consider a symmetric double barrier heterostructure enclosing a well and propose a solution for the transmission problem using a generalized WKB approach which accounts for the amplitude suppression and phase shift due to the barriers. This approach allows us to address both off-resonance and resonance cases and, in the latter case, verify the coherent destruction of tunneling.
We derive a prediction of dynamical tunneling rates from regular to chaotic phase-space regions combining the direct regular-to-chaotic tunneling mechanism in the quantum regime with an improved resonance-assisted tunneling theory in the semiclassical regime. We give a qualitative recipe for identifying the relevance of nonlinear resonances in a given $\hbar$-regime. For systems with one or multiple dominant resonances we find excellent agreement to numerics.
We revisit the problem of laser-induced suppression of quantum dynamical tunneling in a model system studied by Kilin et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76 (1996) 3297]. This quantum system consists of a ground state symmetric double-well potential which is coupled by a strong laser field to an excited state asymmetric double-well potential. By analyzing the assumptions used in their analysis we show that the suppression of quantum dynamical tunneling can be explained with the use of dark and bright states of the system. We also generalize the system and the conditions for suppression of quantum tunneli…
This study proposes a new mediated asymmetric semi-quantum key distribution (MASQKD) protocol. With the help of a dishonest third party, two classical participants, who have only limited asymmetric quantum capabilities, can share a secret key with each other. The proposed protocol is shown to be immune to several well-known attacks. Furthermore, an improved MASQKD protocol is proposed in which the quantum capabilities of one participant can be further reduced.
Photovoltaic effect of neutral atoms using inhomogeneous light in double-trap opened system is studied theoretically. Using asymmetric external driving field to replacing original asymmetric chemical potential of atoms, we create polarization of atom population in the double-trap system. The polarization of atom number distribution induces net current of atoms and works as collected carriers in the cell. The cell can work even under partially coherent light. The whole configuration is described by quantum master equation considering weak tunneling between the system and its reservoirs at finit…
We investigate the tunneling process between two symmetric stable islands of a forced pendulum Hamiltonian in the weak chaos regime. We show that when the tunneling doublet is quantized over a classical non-linear resonance the tunneling rate strongly deviates from the semiclassical prediction. This mechanism is responsible for the irregular dependence of the tunneling rate on the system parameters. The weak-chaos condition allows us to make a theoretical prediction which agrees very well with the numerical results. This opens up a possible avenue to a general theory on the dependence of quant…
The Salecker-Wigner-Peres quantum-clock approach is applied in order to determine the tunneling time of an electron in strong-field tunnel ionization via a time-dependent electric field. Our results show that the ionization of the electron takes a nonvanishing period of time. This tunneling time is of the order of the Keldysh time but strictly larger than the Keldysh time. Comparing the quantum-clock tunneling time to the mean tunneling time as obtained by the virtual-detector approach, one finds that these two complementary methods give very similar results. Due to the asymmetric distribution…
Quantum tunneling of the ground and first excited states in a quantum superposition driven by a novel analytical configuration of a double-well (DW) potential is investigated. Symmetric and asymmetric potentials are considered as to support quantum mechanical zero mode and first excited state analytical solutions. Reporting about a symmetry breaking that supports the quantum conversion of a zero-mode stable vacuum into an unstable tachyonic quantum state, two inequivalent topological scenarios are supposed to drive stable tunneling and coherent tunneling destruction respectively. A complete pr…
We adapt the semiclassical technique, as used in the context of instanton transitions in quantum field theory, to the description of tunneling transmissions at finite energies through potential barriers by complex quantum mechanical systems. Even for systems initially in their ground state, not generally describable in semiclassical terms, the transmission probability has a semiclassical (exponential) form. The calculation of the tunneling exponent uses analytic continuation of degrees of freedom into a complex phase space as well as analytic continuation of the classical equations of motion i…
In this paper, we consider the semiclassical 2D magnetic Schr{ö}dinger operator in the case where the magnetic field vanishes along a smooth closed curve. Assuming that this curve has an axis of symmetry, we prove that semi-classical tunneling occurs. The main result is an expression the splitting of the first two eigenvalues and an explicit tunneling formula.
For an asymmetric double-well potential system, it is shown that, if the potential is quadratic until it reaches several times of the zero-point energies from the bottoms in each well, the energy eigenvalues of the low lying excited states of the double-well system must be close to the eigenvalues of the quadratic potentials. These eigenvalue structures suggest a method for the coherent control of the tunneling as well as realizing almost complete localization of the wave packet in one of the wells, by handling the double-well asymmetry. Numerical examples are included to indicate that the met…
