Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/section-b/8/b/solution

The probability current of the incident wave is , and that of the reflected wave is . The quantum reflection probability is the positive ratio of reflected to incident flux magnitudes:
For comparison, the transmitted probability current is , so the transmission probability is
These satisfy , as required by conservation of probability current for a real, nonabsorbing potential energy. In particular, alone is not the transmitted flux fraction when .

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