An optical-model approach to coherent resonant tunneling through one-dimensional quantum structures

Considering the effects of absorption in the tunneling process, we propose an optical-model approach to coherent resonant tunneling through one-dimensional systems. We show that the optical-model coherent transmission coefficient successfully reproduces the experimental current transfer ratio and its derivative through GaAs/GaAlAs quantum barrier systems; the experimental data were measured with a nearly monochromatic electron beam without any bias across the system. We also find that absorption inside the system is mainly responsible for the smoothening of the peaked structure of the current transfer ratio. Coherent tunneling may be the dominant mechanism in the tunneling process when the energy is small.