Abstract and subjects
We present an alternative approach to the teaching of introductory quantum mechanics by considering the interaction between a particle and a waveguide. We focus on the accumulated phase when the particle travels across a waveguide composed of an arbitrary number of rectangular sections and show that the condition for resonant transmission can be deduced to leading order by simple algebra. (C) 2011 American Association of Physics Teachers. [DOI: 10.1119/1.3553460]