Attempt frequency in tunneling

Abstract

The nature of the "attempt frequency," in the rate of escape of a particle from a confining structure by quantum tunneling through its outer barrier, is elucidated. It is shown that even for a general internal potential the reciprocal of the attempt frequency is equal to the formal quantum propagation time that is given by the energy derivative of the "round trip" phase change for the wave function reflected from and returning to the barrier. © 1998 American Association of Physics Teachers.