TUNNELING OF ELECTRONS THROUGH THIN LAYERS OF WATER

摘要

We consider a thin layer of water between two metal plates. The water is represented by the central force model, the metal plates as jellium. From molecular dynamics simulations typical water configurations are obtained. For a given configuration we construct potential energy surfaces for the tunneling of electrons through the water layer using a pseudopotential for the interaction of an electron with the water molecules. The tunneling probabilities are then obtained from scattering theory. For a water layer 9.6 Angstrom thick and a tunneling window of 6 Angstrom by 6 Angstrom we obtain tunneling probabilities of the order of 10(-7) to 10(-6) with thermal fluctuations of about one order of magnitude. References: 23