Barrier height vibration-assisted tunneling

Flynn and Stoneham [1970] were the first to suggest that diffusion of the light impurity atom is enhanced by symmetrically coupled vibrations. To incorporate this effect, which is called fluctuational barrier preparation, the authors have proposed to take into account the dependence of the tunneling matrix element on displacements of the heavy nuclei. This approach goes beyond the familiar Condon approximation. In this version of phonon-assisted tunneling, the phonon-dressed incoherent transitions are also induced by a suitable reduction in the barrier height via emission or absorption of phonons. 

---