Electron escape rate and barrier traversal time influenced by the electromagnetic environment

Self-consistent determination of electron escape rate and barrier traversal time under the influence of the electromagnetic environment reveals that the escape rate increases monotonically with increasing ratio of the elementary charging energy to the barrier height but that the traversal time peaks at one certain ratio. As the freuqency of the electromagnetic mode increases, an effective potential for a tunneling electron changes from linear to parabolic, dominated, respectively, by the zero-point fluctuations of the charge on the junction and its static polarization. Possible experimental situations for observing these predictions are discussed.