PHYS 343: 1D Schrödinger wavepackets

Figure 1

Animation of two Gaussian electron wavepackets moving towards each other and displaying interference. Parameters are chosen such that the width of each wavepacket does not increase much during the animation (initial distance between both peaks: 14 μm; initial width: 2μm; mean speed of each packet: 200 m/s)

Figure 2

Animation of real part (solid blue) and modulus squared (dashed orange) of a Gaussian wavepacket that displays diffusion (increasing width over time). While the modulus remains a Gaussian, the complex nature of ζ(t) of Eq. (3.24) means that real and imaginary parts will not be Gaussians after a short time. The initial momentum is zero, and the initial width is reduced to 0.2μm so that diffusion is more prominent.

Figure 3

Animation of two diffusing Gaussian electron wavepackets displaying interference. This is the same as in Figure 2, but starting with a superposition of two wavepackets. The complex nature of ζ(t) of Eq. (3.24) implies that interference fringes will appear.