Description

A pure quantum state is simultaneously transmitted and reflected by a double-barrier potential. The reflected component is depicted here. The horizontal slice at the exact center represents the classical probability of finding a particle. The rest of the image illustrates the quantum coherences.

A right-moving state of well-defined momentum enters from the left side of the image. The solution of the stationary Schrodinger equation with open boundary conditions is computed. The Wigner transform of the pure-state density matrix yields the Wigner distribution function. Selecting only the left-moving part of the phase space (p<0) and then computing the Weyl transform yields the image above. The color saturation and hue correspond to the amplitude and phase of the density matrix, respectively. The initial momentum was chosen to be at the peak of a wide resonance located just below the top of the leftmost potential barrier.

Special thanks to Emilia Petrisor for providing the complex plotting routine on GitHub.