'Superluminal' tunnelling as a weak measurement effect

Dmitri Sokolovski, A.Z. Msezane, V.R. Shaginyan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We exploit the analogy between the transfer of a pulse across a scattering medium and Aharonov's weak measurements to resolve the long standing paradox between the impossibility to exceed the speed of light and the seemingly "superluminal" behavior of a tunneling particle in the barrier or a photon in a "fast-light" medium. We demonstrate that superluminality occurs when the value of the duration tau spent in the barrier is uncertain, whereas when tau is known accurately, no superluminal behavior is observed. In all cases only subluminal durations contribute to the transmission which precludes faster-than-light information transfer, as observed in a recent experiment.
Original languageEnglish
Article number064103
Pages (from-to)064103-1-064103-4
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review A
Volume71(6)
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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