Herbert G Winful 2006 New J. Phys. 8 101 doi:10.1088/1367-2630/8/6/101
The meaning of group delay in barrier tunnelling: a re-examination of superluminal group velocities
Herbert G Winful
Show affiliationsWe show that the group delay in tunnelling is not a traversal time but a lifetime of stored energy or stored probability escaping through both ends of the barrier. Because it is a lifetime associated with both forward (transmitted) and backward (reflected) fluxes, it cannot be used to define a group velocity for forward transit in cases where a wavepacket is mostly reflected. For photonic tunnelling barriers the group delay is identical to the dwell time which is also a property of an entire wavefunction with reflected and transmitted components. Theoretical predictions and experimental reports of superluminal group velocities in barrier tunnelling are re-interpreted.
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Issue 6 (June 2006)
Received 21 January 2006
Published 13 June 2006
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The meaning of group delay in barrier tunnelling: a re-examination of superluminal group velocities
Herbert G Winful 2006 New J. Phys. 8 101
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