Introducing Spin in 2D Quantum Tunneling

Abstract

We study the quantum tunneling of non-relativistic electrons for two dimensional condensed matter systems. We employ the Levy-Leblond equation (which is the analogue of the Dirac equation for non-relativistic fermions) and show that the spin of the particle can be incorporated in the 2D tunneling problem. We derive the transmission and reflection coefficients of spin up and down electrons and show that the sum of these coefficients are consistent with the known results for gapless semiconductors.