Tunneling in a self-consistent dynamic image potential.

Abstract

We have calculated the self-consistent effective potential for an electron tunneling through a square barrier while interacting with surface plasmons. This potential reduces to the classical image potential in the static limit. In the opposite limit, when the ``velocity'' of the tunneling electron is large, it reduces to the unperturbed square-barrier potential. For a wide variety of parameters the dynamic effects on the transmission coefficient T=\ensuremath{\Vert}${\mathit{t}}^{2}$\ensuremath{\Vert} can, for instance, be related to the B\uttiker-Landauer traversal time for tunneling, given by ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\tau}}}^{\mathrm{BL}}$=\ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\Vert}d lnt/dV\ensuremath{\Vert}.