What is tunnelling? The phenomenon of tunneling, which has no counterpart in classical physics, is an important consequence of quantum mechanics.

Consider a particle with energy E in the inner region of a one-dimensional potential well V(x). (A potential well is a potential that has a lower value in a certain region of space than in the neighbouring regions.) In classical mechanics, if E < V (the maximum height of the potential barrier), the particle remains in the well forever; if E > V , the particle escapes. In quantum mechanics, the situation is not so simple. The particle can escape even if its energy E is below the height of the barrier V , although the probability of escape is small unless E is close to V . In that case, the particle may tunnel through the potential barrier and emerge with the same energy E.

Example of tunnelling The phenomenon of tunneling has many important applications. For example, it describes a type of radioactive decay in which a nucleus emits an alpha particle (a helium nucleus). According to the quantum explanation given independently by George Gamow and by Ronald W. Gurney and Edward Condon in 1928, the alpha particle is confined before the decay by a potential. For a given nuclear species, it is possible to measure the energy E of the emitted alpha particle and the average lifetime of the nucleus before decay. The lifetime of the nucleus is a measure of the probability of tunneling through the barrier--the shorter the lifetime, the higher the probability.

With plausible assumptions about the general form of the potential function, it is possible to calculate a relationship between and E that is applicable to all alpha emitters. This theory, which is borne out by experiment, shows that the probability of tunneling is extremely sensitive to the value of E. For all known alpha-particle emitters, the value of E varies from about 2 to 8 megaelectron volts, or MeV (1 MeV = 10 electron volts). Thus, the value of E varies only by a factor of 4, whereas the range of is from about 1011 years down to about 10-6 second, a factor of 1024. It would be difficult to account for this sensitivity of to the value of E by any theory other than quantum mechanical tunneling.

Application of tunnelling 1. Scanning tunneling microscope

The scanning tunnelling microscope, or STM, invented by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, first allowed one to routinely image individual atoms on the surface of a metal. In 1981 this was a giant leap from the extremely specialized devices that had achieved atomic resolution on a few specific materials. The STM takes advantage of quantum tunnelling probability's extremely sensitive relationship with distance (approximately exponential). This way, when the tip of STM's needle is brought very close to a conduction surface that has a voltage bias, one can tell extremely sensitively how close the needle is by measuring the current of electrons that are tunnelling across between the needle and the surface. By using piezo rods that change slightly in size when voltage is applied over them the height of the tip can be continuously adjusted to keep the tunnelling current constant. Then, the time-varying voltages that were applied to the piezo rods can be recorded and used to image the surface of the conductor. Today's STM's are accurate to 0.001 nm, or about 1% of an atomic diameter.

2. Tunnel diode Diodes are electrical semiconductor devices that generally allow far greater current in one direction than the other. It uses a semiconductor's large band gap to send electrons in one direction that is favored because the electrons conduct at a higher energy level in the first material than they end in the second. When the voltage is reversed, the electrons have to jump to a higher energy level since it moves from a lower conduction band to a substantially higher one so that there is far less current. When the two semiconductors (called p-type and n-type semiconductors) are very heavily doped the depletion layer can be thin enough for tunnelling. Then, when a small forward bias is applied the current due to tunnelling, or tunnelling current, can be appreciable over the diode. This tunnelling current will have a maximum around the point where the voltage bias is such that the energy level of the p and n conduction bands are the same. However, as the voltage bias is increased the two conduction bands no longer line up and the tunnelling current becomes negligible. At this point the diode acts again as a normal diode. Because the tunnelling current drops off so rapidly, tunnel diodes can be created that have a range of voltages for which current decreases as voltage is increased. This peculiar property is used in some applications. Also, tunnel diodes are used in high speed devices because the characteristic tunnelling probability changes as rapidly as the bias voltage (without a delay). The resonant tunnelling diode makes use of quantum tunnelling in a very different manner to achieve a similar result. This diode can have a resonant voltage (for which there is a lot of current) that is much more appreciable than the tunnel diode in both voltage and current, and is used especially to favor a particular voltage. This is done by placing two very thin layers with a high energy conductance band very near each other. This creates a quantum potential well that has a discrete lowest energy level. When this energy level is higher than that of the electrons, no tunnelling will occur, similar to a diode in reverse bias. However, once the voltage is such that the two energies align, the electrons can flow like an open wire. And, as the voltage is increased further tunnelling becomes improbable again and the diode will likely act like a normal diode again before a second energy level becomes noticeable.

3. Josephson junction 4. Tunnel injection 5. Quantum tunnelling composite 6. Enzymes