Signatures of Dynamical Tunneling in the Wave function of a Soft-Walled Open Microwave Billiard

TL;DR

This study detects dynamical tunneling in a soft-walled microwave cavity by analyzing wave function phase evolution with energy, revealing tunneling conditions even when level splitting is unresolved.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to identify dynamical tunneling through wave function phase analysis in microwave billiards, extending previous detection techniques.

Findings

Dynamical tunneling observed in microwave cavity resonator

Wave function phase evolution reveals tunneling conditions

Method detects tunneling even when level splitting is unresolved

Abstract

Evidence for dynamical tunneling is observed in studies of the transmission, and wave functions, of a soft-walled microwave cavity resonator. In contrast to previous work, we identify the conditions for dynamical tunneling by monitoring the evolution of the wave function phase as a function of energy, which allows us to detect the tunneling process even under conditions where its expected level splitting remains irresolvable.