Mode-coupled barrier-controlled atomic processes in solids: a comparative study

TL;DR

This paper presents a unified quantum-mechanical approach to fundamental atomic processes in solids, such as diffusion, reorientation, reactions, and nucleation, using barrier currents and radial potentials.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quantum framework incorporating Schrödinger's equation for calculating transition rates of atomic processes in solids.

Findings

Numerical transition rates are computed for various processes.

The approach unifies different atomic processes under a common quantum model.

Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the quantum method in solids.

Abstract

Four basic processes are envisioned, among them migration (diffusion), local rotation (reorientation), isothermic chemical reactions and nucleation. All of them are unified by a common approach to the barrier currents that has been suggested as far back as 1961 by John Bardeen and then extended by Stefan Christov some ten years later. By introducing the respective radial potentials, we incorporate Schroedinger's equation and thereby a quantum insight into the phenomena. Numerical calculations of the obtained statistical transition rates are reported.