Tunnelling coefficients across an arbitrary potential barrier

Abstract

A simple, yet accurate, method of solving the Schrodinger equation across an arbitrary potential barrier is described, based on the analytic transfer-matrix technique. This paper gives the final analytical expression for the transmission probability. Numerical calculations for four typical potential barrier structures are compared with the traditional WKB, modified WKB and the modified Airy function (MAF) methods. Excellent agreement with an exact example is demonstrated. Most importantly, in cases where other potential-barrier methods fail, our method performs well.