Ultra-fast propagation of Schrödinger waves in absorbing media

Abstract

We identify the characteristic times of the evolution of a quantum wave generated by a point source with a sharp onset in an absorbing medium. The "traversal'' or "Büttiker-Landauer'' time (which grows linearly with the distance to the source) for the Hermitian, non-absorbing case is substituted by three different characteristic quantities. One of them describes the arrival of a maximum of the density calculated with respect to position, but the maximum with respect to time for a given position becomes independent of the distance to the source and is given by the particle's ``survival time'' in the medium. This later effect, unlike the Hartman effect, occurs for injection frequencies under or above the cut-off, and for arbitrarily large distances. A possible physical realization is proposed by illuminating a two-level atom with a detuned laser.

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Goos-Hänchen-Like Shifts in Atom Optics
• Generic Short-Time Propagation of Sharp-Boundaries Wave Packets
• "Superluminal paradox" in wavepacket propagation and its quantum mechanical resolution
• Matter wave pulses characteristics
• Enhanced observability of quantum post-exponential decay using distant detectors
• Absorption in atomic wires
• Non-Hermitian Hartman effect
• Universal potential barrier penetration by initially confined wavepackets
• Tunneling times through barrier with inelasticity
• Simultaneous arrival of information in absorbing wave guides
• Tunneling time in coupled-channel systems
• Dynamics of a quantum wave emitted by a decaying and evanescent point source
• Attosecond dynamics of electron scattering by an absorbing layer