The relationship between transmission resonances and Bloch states for a periodic array consisting of N delta function potentials is discussed. The transmission resonances are derived for matter waves incident on the periodic array, while the Bloch states are calculated using periodic boundary conditions for the array. It is shown that approximately half of the transmission resonances map into pairs of degenerate Bloch states. Wave functions are shown for both the transmission resonances and the Bloch states for arrays of five and six delta function potentials. The origin of the band structure of the Bloch states is interpreted in terms of the wave functions and eigenenergies for a particle confined to move on a ring, subjected to a periodic array of delta function potentials on the ring.

We demonstrate an effective method for calculating bound-to-continuum cross-sections by examining transitions to bound states above the ionization energy that result from placing the system of interest within an infinite spherical well. Using photoionization of the hydrogen atom as an example, we demonstrate convergence between this approach for a large volume of confinement and an exact analytical alternate approach that uses energy-normalized continuum wavefunctions, which helps to elucidate the implementation of Fermi's golden rule. As the radius of confinement varies, the resulting changes in physical behavior of the system are presented and discussed. The photoionization cross-sections from a variety of atomic states with principal quantum number n are seen to obey particular scaling laws.

An optically trapped Brownian particle is a sensitive probe of molecular and nanoscopic forces. An understanding of its motion, which is caused by the interplay of random and deterministic contributions, can lead to greater physical insight into the behavior of stochastic phenomena. The modeling of realistic stochastic processes typically requires advanced mathematical tools. We discuss a finite difference algorithm to compute the motion of an optically trapped particle and the numerical treatment of the white noise term. We then treat the transition from the ballistic to the diffusive regime due to the presence of inertial effects on short time scales and examine the effect of an optical trap on the motion of the particle. We also outline how to use simulations of optically trapped Brownian particles to gain understanding of nanoscale force and torque measurements, and of more complex phenomena, such as Kramers transitions, stochastic resonant damping, and stochastic resonance.