MAGNETIC-FIELD EFFECT ON AN ELECTRON-TUNNELING OUT OF A CONFINING PLANE

The influence of a magnetic field on the tunneling of an electron out of a confining plane is studied by a path integral method. We map this 3D problem onto a 1D one, and find that the tunneling is strongly aff ected by the field. Without a perpendicular field, the tunneling at ze ro temperature can be completely suppressed by a large parallel field, but in the small parallel field and low temperature limit the tunneli ng rate is finite. An explicit formula is obtained in this case. A qua ntitative explanation without fitting parameter to a recent experiment is provided.