Reprint of : Dynamics of a quantum wave emitted by a decaying and evanescent point source

• A point source boundary condition is used to model the dynamics in a tunnel region.
• The role of the Büttiker–Landauer time is emphasized.
• The model displays diffraction in time and deviations from the exponential decay.
• Optimal injection frequencies and detection positions are discussed.

We put forward a model that describes a decaying and evanescent point source of non-interacting quantum waves in 1D. This point-source assumption allows for a simple description that captures the essential aspects of the dynamics of a wave traveling through a classically forbidden region without the need to specify the details of the inner region. The dynamics of the resulting wave is examined and several characteristic times are identified. One of them generalizes the tunneling time-scale introduced by Büttiker and Landauer and it characterizes the arrival of the maximum of the wave function. Diffraction in time and deviations from exponential decay are also studied. Here we show that there exists an optimal injection frequency and detection point for the observation of these two quantum phenomena.