Exploring multiscale quantum media: high-precision numerical solution of the fractional Schrödinger equation, eigenfunctions with physical potentials, and fractionally-enhanced quantum tunneling

Abstract Fractional evolution equations lack generally accessible and well-converged codes excepting anomalous diffusion. A particular equation of strong interest to the growing intersection of applied mathematics and quantum information science and technology is the fractional Schrödinger equation, which describes sub-and super-dispersive behavior of quantum wavefunctions induced by multiscale media. We derive a computationally efficient sixth-order split-step numerical method to converge the eigenfunctions of the FSE to arbitrary numerical precision for arbitrary fractional order derivative. We demonstrate applications of this code to machine precision for classic quantum problems such as the finite well and harmonic oscillator, which take surprising twists due to the non-local nature of the fractional derivative. For example, the evanescent wave tails in the finite well take a Mittag–Leffer-like form which decay much slower than the well-known exponential from integer-order derivative wave theories, enhancing penetration into the barrier and therefore quantum tunneling rates. We call this effect fractionally enhanced quantum tunneling . This work includes an open source code for communities from quantum experimentalists to applied mathematicians to easily and efficiently explore the solutions of the fractional Schrödinger equation in a wide variety of practical potentials for potential realization in quantum tunneling enhancement and other quantum applications.