Tunneling delay time in frustrated total internal reflection

The group delay in frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) is shown to equal the dwell time plus a self-interference delay. The self-interference delay originates from the energy stored in the overlap between incident and reflected waves above the interface. The group delay in FTIR for finite beams is thus shown to be the lifetime of stored energy in the gap between the prisms and in the partial standing wave above the gap. As in other manifestations of tunneling the saturation of group delay with barrier length (Hartman effect) is explained by the saturation of stored energy in the region defined. No superluminal propagation is implied.

[1]  F. Smith,et al.  Lifetime Matrix in Collision Theory , 1960 .

[2]  T. E. Hartman,et al.  Tunneling of a Wave Packet , 1962 .

[3]  J. Agudín.  TIME DELAY OF SCATTERING PROCESSES. , 1968 .

[4]  M. Buttiker.  Larmor precession and the traversal time for tunneling , 1983 .

[5]  K. Yasumoto,et al.  A new evaluation of the Goos–Hänchen shift and associated time delay , 1983 .

[6]  E. H. Hauge,et al.  Tunneling times: a critical review , 1989 .

[7]  A. Ghatak,et al.  Temporal delay of a pulse undergoing frustrated total internal reflection. , 1989, Applied optics.

[8]  Aephraim M. Steinberg,et al.  Analogies between electron and photon tunneling: A proposed experiment to measure photon tunneling times , 1991 .

[9]  Steinberg,et al.  Tunneling delay times in one and two dimensions. , 1994, Physical review. A, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics.

[10]  P. Balcou,et al.  DUAL OPTICAL TUNNELING TIMES IN FRUSTRATED TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION , 1997 .

[11]  Byoungho Lee,et al.  TM-polarized photon tunneling phase time in a frustrated-total-internal-reflection structure , 1997 .

[12]  Chun-Fang Li,et al.  Duration of tunneling photons in a frustrated-total-internal-reflection structure , 2001 .

[13]  Aephraim M. Steinberg,et al.  Total reflection cannot occur with a negative delay time , 2001 .

[14]  Chun-Fang Li.  Comment on “Photonic tunneling time in frustrated total internal reflection” , 2002 .

[15]  H. Winful.  Energy storage in superluminal barrier tunneling: Origin of the Hartman effect. , 2002, Optics express.

[16]  H. Winful.  Group delay, stored energy, and the tunneling of evanescent electromagnetic waves. , 2003, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[17]  H. Winful.  Nature of "superluminal" barrier tunneling. , 2003, Physical review letters.

[18]  H. Winful,et al.  Delay time and the hartman effect in quantum tunneling. , 2003, Physical review letters.

[19]  H. Winful.  Relation between quantum tunneling times for relativistic particles (6 pages) , 2004 .

[20]  A. Zheltikov,et al.  Density of modes and tunneling times in finite one-dimensional photonic crystals: a comprehensive analysis. , 2004, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[21]  The meaning of group delay in barrier tunnelling: a re-examination of superluminal group velocities , 2006, quant-ph/0601085.

[22]  G. Nimtz,et al.  Evanescent modes are virtual photons , 2006 .

[23]  Herbert G. Winful,et al.  Tunneling time, the Hartman effect, and superluminality: A proposed resolution of an old paradox , 2006 .

[24]  H. Winful,et al.  Direct space-time observation of pulse tunneling in an electromagnetic band gap , 2007 .

[25]  R. Dörner,et al.  Attosecond Ionization and Tunneling Delay Time Measurements in Helium , 2008, Science.