Reflection effect of a localized absorptive potential on nonresonant and resonant tunneling

Abstract

The reflection due to absorptive potential (-${\mathit{iV}}_{\mathit{i}}$) for resonant and nonresonant tunneling has been considered. We show that the effect of reflection leads to a nonmonotonic dependence of absorption on the strength ${\mathit{V}}_{\mathit{i}}$ with a maximum absorption of typically 0.5. This has implications for the operation of resonant-tunneling devices. General conceptual aspects of absorptive potentials are discussed.