Transparent boundary conditions for the spatially discrete Schrödinger equation: Reflectionless quantum transport in 1D lattices

Abstract

We construct exact transparent boundary conditions (TBCs) for a time-continuous, spatially discrete Schrödinger equation that models a one-dimensional quantum lattice. Using a recently developed exact solution for the discrete system, we derive the Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps analytically via Laplace transforms. This yields a convolution-type boundary condition governed by Bessel functions. We rigorously demonstrate the consistency of this discrete formulation with its continuous counterpart in the continuum limit. Additionally, we present an efficient time-discretization scheme based on the trapezoidal rule for practical implementation. Numerical experiments using a Crank-Nicolson solver verify that our proposed TBCs eliminate spurious backscattering entirely and preserve reflectionless propagation of a Gaussian wave packet exiting the computational domain