REFLECTION EFFECT OF A LOCALIZED ABSORPTIVE POTENTIAL ON NONRESONANT AND RESONANT TUNNELING

The reflection due to absorptive potential (-iV(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 V(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.