Quantum Tunneling

Clay Sculpture “Quantum Tunneling” Paul Egan

What do the following have in common? Ammonia Masers Certain types of diodes Alpha particle emission by Unstable Heavy Nuclei Certain types of electron microscopes Solar Panels

What do the following have in common? Ammonia Masers Certain types of diodes Alpha particle emission by Unstable Heavy Nuclei Certain types of electron microscopes Solar Panels

They all involve Quantum Tunneling!

Quantum tunneling occurs for a simple harmonic oscillator, but not for a particle in an infinite square well potential. Why?

Note that small difference in Alpha particle Energy corresponds to a huge change in alpha-decay half life times (~20 orders of magnitude)!

Quantum Tunneling II

Tunneling Electron Microscope

Image Move

Illustrations of the atomic structure of the single wall carbon nanotube peapod, which has C60 molecules encapsulated inside. Also shown in the background are the electron waves in this one-dimensional nanostructure that are mapped using a scanning tunneling microscope.

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Tunnel Diode