Quantum Tunnelling

• If analysed with classical mechanics, if E is less than U, the

particle will remain in the well forever. If E is greater than U,
then the particle can get out of the well.

• But this is not the case. Using quantum mechanics, the

particle can escape even if its energy is less than U, but the
PROBABILITY is less depending on the difference of E and U.
There is a possibility that the particle will tunnel through the
potential barrier.
 Quantum Tunnelling

 Quantum tunnelling refers to the quantum mechanical

phenomenon where a particle tunnels through a barrier
that it classically could not surmount.

 It has important applications to modern devices such as

the tunnel diode, quantum computing, and the scanning
tunnelling microscope.

 Tunnelling is often explained using the Heisenberg

uncertainty principle and the wave–particle duality of
matter.
 Quantum Tunneling
V Tunneling
U>E
V0

Electrons in a
Free electrons
potential
well/barrier

0
0 x
• ‘If the potential barrier (U) is moderately high and relatively narrow, the
electron wave may continue on the opposite side of the barrier’. This
quantum mechanical effect is called ‘Tunneling Effect’.

• Tunneling effect is similar to light wave where light intensity decays

exponentially inside a given material.
 Quantum tunnelling
Transmission Coefficient (T) :
Fraction of particles that makes it across
Reflection Coefficient (R) :
Fraction of particles that reflects

T+R=1

−𝟐𝑳 𝟐𝒎 𝑼−𝑬
𝑻=𝒆 =
ђ
L – width of the potential barrier
m – mass of the particle
U – Height of the potential barrier
E - Energy of the particle
Particle in a Box
 A particle of mass m is trapped in a one-dimensional box of
width L and infinitely high barriers at each end i.e. infinitely
hard wall.
 The particle is treated as a wave.
 The box puts boundary conditions on the wave. The wave
function must be zero at the walls of the box and on the
outside.
 The particle does not loose any energy when it collides with
such infinite walls so that its total energy stay constant.

We have to find out the wave function

Ψ𝑛 that corresponds to each energy level 𝐸𝑛
for the trapped particle.
 Infinite Square-Well Potential
• The simplest such system is that of a particle trapped in a box with infinitely hard walls that
the particle cannot penetrate. This potential is called an infinite square well and is given by

• Clearly the wave function must be zero where the potential is infinite.
• Where the potential is zero inside the box, the Schrödinger wave
•
𝜕2𝜓 2𝑚
⇒ 2
+ 2 𝐸−𝑉 𝜓=0
𝜕𝑥 ђ
• equation becomes where .

• The general solution is .

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 Quantization
• Boundary conditions of the potential dictate that the wave function must be
zero at x = 0 and x = L. This yields valid solutions for integer values of n such
that kL = nπ.

• The wave function is now

• We normalize the wave function

• The normalized wave function becomes

• These functions are identical to those obtained for a vibrating string with fixed
ends.

13
 Quantized Energy
• The quantized wave number now becomes
• Solving for the energy yields

• Note that the energy depends on the integer values of n. Hence the
energy is quantized and nonzero.
• The special case of n = 0 is called the ground state energy.

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 Particle in a Box

Some trajectories of a particle in a box according to Newton's laws of classical mechanics (A),
and according to the Schrödinger equation of quantum mechanics(B-F). In (B-F), the horizontal
axis is position, and the vertical axis is the real part (blue) and imaginary part (red) of
the wavefunction. The states (B,C,D) are energy eigenstates, but (E,F) are not.