INVESTIGATION ON THE REFLECTION AND TRANSMISSION PROPERTIES OF COMPLEX ABSORBING POTENTIALS

The reflection and transmission properties of different complex absorb ing potentials (CAPs) are studied using WKB and scaling procedures whi ch make the results transferable to any mass and kinetic energy. Expli cit formulas are obtained which describe the reflection and transmissi on. properties of monomial CAPs -i eta x(n) with high accuracy. These properties are now well understood. The approximate results are compar ed to exact analytical results available for quadratic CAPs, and to nu merical results obtained by wave packet propagation followed by an ene rgy resolved analysis. The approximate, but accurate, description of t he action of the CAP is finally used to determine optimal CAP paramete rs. CAP length, strength, and order can now be chosen in such a way th at the sum of reflection and transmission is minimized. Optimal parame ters are compiled for different energies and energy intervals. (C) 199 6 American Institute of Physics.