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A quantum reflection amplitude is the complex ratio of the outgoing reflected wave to the incident wave in a chosen scattering convention. In one reflected channel with the same exterior speed, the reflection probability is $|r{|}^2$. Its phase affects interference even when its modulus is one; shifting the reference plane changes that phase.

A particle incident below a semi-infinite step has a unit-modulus quantum reflection amplitude but a nontrivial phase. Continuity of the oscillating and evanescent solutions yields the displayed coefficient, for the incident phase origin at the interface. Its decaying exterior wave has zero net probability current. The phase depends on the chosen scattering convention; the unit reflection probability does not.