COHERENT PATTERNS AND SELF-FOCUSING OF ELECTRONS BY A THIN NONLINEAR BARRIER

Electron transport across a planar nonlinear barrier when the potentia l depends self-consistently on the wave function has been studied. Whe n the amplitude of the incident wave exceeds a certain threshold, a so liton-shaped brightening (darkening) appears on the barrier causing di ffraction of the wave. Thus the spontaneously formed transverse patter n can be viewed as a self-induced nonlinear quantum screen. It is show n that the nonlinearity can cause self-focusing of the incident wave i nto a 'beam', splitting into two 'beams', single or double traces with suppressed reflection or transmission, etc. (C) 1998 Academic Press L imited.