Enhanced quantum tunnelling induced by disorder

TL;DR

This paper analytically investigates how weak disorder in a one-dimensional quantum barrier can enhance tunnelling, providing theoretical insights that align with recent numerical findings.

Contribution

It offers two complementary approximate solutions to invariant imbedding equations, revealing the threshold and rate of disorder-enhanced tunnelling in quantum barriers.

Findings

Disorder enhances quantum tunnelling at a specific scaled wavenumber threshold.

Analytic solutions agree with numerical results on tunnelling enhancement.

Disorder increases both mean conductance and resistance of the barrier.

Abstract

We reconsider the problem of the enhancement of tunnelling of a quantum particle induced by disorder of a one-dimensional tunnel barrier of length $L$, using two different approximate analytic solutions of the invariant imbedding equations of wave propagation for weak disorder. The two solutions are complementary for the detailed understanding of important aspects of numerical results on disorder-enhanced tunnelling obtained recently by Kim et al. (Phys. rev. B{\bf 77}, 024203 (2008)). In particular, we derive analytically the scaled wavenumber $(kL)$-threshold where disorder-enhanced tunnelling of an incident electron first occurs, as well as the rate of variation of the transmittance in the limit of vanishing disorder. Both quantities are in good agreement with the numerical results of Kim et al. Our non-perturbative solution of the invariant imbedding equations allows us to show that the disorder enhances both the mean conductance and the mean resistance of the barrier.