Nonadiabatic tunneling in ponderomotive barriers

I. Y. Dodin, N. J. Fisch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Localized regions of intense large-scale radiofrequency field are known to act like effective (“ponderomotiveâ€) potential barriers, which scatter particles elastically and in the direction determined by the particle initial velocity rather than phase. In smaller-scale fields, transmission through a ponderomotive barrier is probabilistic and resembles tunneling of a quantum particle through a static potential. We derive asymptotic expressions for the phase-averaged transmission coefficient T as a function of the particle energy E0. We show that, unlike for a truly quantum particle, T (E0) is of algebraic form and has a threshold, below which transmission does not occur. We also find a threshold in E0, above which all particles are transmitted regardless of their initial phase.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number056404
JournalPhysical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
Volume74
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Statistics and Probability

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