The Photoelectric Effect And Compton Scattering

PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT
Introduction:
When a metal surface is illuminated with light, electrons can be emitted from the surface. This
phenomenon, known as the photoelectric effect was discovered by Heinrich Hertz in 1887 in the
process of his research into electromagnetic radiation. The emitted electrons are called
photoelectrons.

Experimental arrangement:
Photoelectric effect can be studied with the help of the following simple experiment. The apparatus
consists of two photosensitive surface s E and C
enclosed inside a evacuated glass tube. E and C are
connected to variable voltage source Vext through an
ammeter. Vext has positive polarity at E and negative
polarity on C. When E is exposed to light with Vext = 0
a current is found to exist in the circuit A,. this current
is due to the emission of photoelectrons from E due to
illumination by radiation. As Vext is increased the
current in the circuit decreases and becomes zero as
Vext reaches certain value. This reverse potential is
called stopping potential Vs. Here Vs is a measure of
maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectrons as eV s
is the work done against the most energetic
Fig: 1 Apparatus for observing
photoelectron to stop it from reaching the collector.
photoelectric effect.
Hence the maximum
photoelectrons is

kinetic

energy

of

the

Kmax = eVs
Another distinguisihing factor is that theis value of the stopping potential and hence the maximum
kinetic energy of the photoelectron does not depend on the intensity of light.

Work function:
In the classical picture, the surface of the metal is illuminated by an electromagnetic wave of intensity
I. An electron absorbs energy from the wave until the binding energy of the electron to the metal is
exceeded at which point the electron is released. The minimum quantity of energy needed to remove
an electron is called the work function of the material. Table 1 lists some values of the work function
of different materials.
Table 1: Some photoelectric workfunctions
Material

Na

Al

Co

Cu

Zn

Ag

Pt

Pb

Workfunction
(eV)

2.28

4.08

3.90

4.70

4.31

4.73

6.35

4.14

Predictions of the classical wave theory:

1. The maximum kinetic energy should be proportional to the intensity of the radiation. As the
brightness of the light source is increased, more energy is delivered to the surface and the
electrons should be released with greater kinetic energies.
2. The photoelectric effect should occur for light of any frequency or wavelength. As long as the
light is intense enough to release electrons, the photoelectric effect should occur no matter
what the frequency or wavelength.

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3. The first electrons should be emitted in a time interval of the order of seconds after the
radiation first strikes surface. In the wave theory, the energy of the wave is uniformly
distributed over the wavefront. If the electron absorbs energy directly from the wave, the
amount of energy delivered to any electron is determined by how much radiant energy is
incident on the surface area in which the electron is confined. Assuming this area is about the
size of an atom, a rough calculation leads to an estimate that the time lag between turning on
the light and observing the first photoelectrons should be of the order of seconds.

Example 1:
A potassium foil is at a distance r=3.5 m from an isotropic light source that emits energy at the rate
P=1.5 W. The work function of potassium is 2.2 eV. Suppose that the energy transported by the
incident light were transferred to the target foil continuously and smoothly. How long would it take for
foil to absorb enough energy to eject an electron? Assume that the foil totally absorbs all the energy
reaching it and that the to-be-ejected electron collects energy from a circular patch of the foil whose
radius is 5.0x10-11 m, about that of a typical atom.

Solution:
The time interval t required for the patch to absorb energy E depends on the rate Pabs at which
the energy is absorbed. Therefore,

E
Pabs

If the electron is to be ejected from the foil, the least energy E it must gain from the light is equal to
the work function of the potassium. Therefore,

Pabs

Since the patch is totally absorbing, the rate of absorption Pabs is equal to the rate
energy arrives the patch. Therefore,

Parr at which

E
Parr

Parr IA

Now
where

I = intensity of the light

A = area of the patch
Now, since the source is isotropic, we can write

P
I emit
4 r 2
Therefore,

4 r 2
4 [3.5m ] 2 [ 2.2eV ][1.6 x10 19 J / eV ]

4580s 1.3h
IA
Pemit A
[1.5W ][ (5.0 x10 11 m ) 2 ]

Thus classical physics tells us that we would have to wait more than an hour after turning on the light
source for a photoelectron to be ejected. The actual waiting time is less than 10 -9s. Apparently then an
electron does not gradually absorb energy from the light arriving at the patch containing the electron.
Rather, either the electron does not absorb any energy at all or it absorbs a quantum of energy
instantaneously, by absorbing a photon from the light.

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Experimental characteristics of photoelectric effect:

Photo electrons are emitted from metal surfaces when exposed to light of suitable frequency.
Experiment reveals the following characteristics of the photoelectric effect.
The photoelectric effect does not occur at all
if the frequency of the light source is below
a certain value. This value, which is
characteristic of the kind of metal surface
used in the experiment, is called the cutoff
frequency C. Above C, any light source, no
matter how weak, will cause emission of
photoelectrons; below C, no light source, no
matter how strong, will cause the emission
of photoelectrons. This experimental result
also disagrees with the predictions of the
wave theory.

Current I

1.

Vs

Fig 2: the photo current I as a

function of potential difference V
for two different values of intensity
of light

The photoelectron current i.e. the number of

photoelectrons emitted from a surface is directly
proportional to the intensity of the light. Increasing the
intensity of light increase the photo current only; the
stopping potential remains the same.

3.

The maximum kinetic energy [determined from the

stopping potential] is totally independent of the
intensity of the light source. Fig. 2 shows a
representation of the experimental results. Doubling
the intensity of the source leaves the stopping
potential unchanged, indicating no change in the
kinetic energy of the electrons. This experimental
result disagrees with the wave theory, which predicts
c
that the maximum kinetic energy should depend on
the intensity of the light. When the intensity is
Fig 3: Variation of Kmax with
doubled, the current is doubled but the stopping
potential V s remains the same. The stopping
frequency
potential and hence the maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectrons varies linearly with
the frequency of the light [Fig. 3].

4.

The first photoelectrons are emitted virtually instantaneously [within 10 -9s] after the light
source is turned on. The wave theory predicts a measurable time delay, so this result also
disagrees with the wave theory.

Kmax

2.

All of these four experimental results suggest that the classical wave theory completely fails to
account for the photoelectric effect.

Einsteins theory of the photoelectric effect:

A successful theory of the photoelectric effect was developed by Einstein in 1905. Based on Plancks
ideas, Einstein postulated that a beam of light consists of small packages of energy called photons or
quanta. The energy of a photon associated with an electromagnetic wave of frequency is
E h ,

[1]

where h is Plancks constant. The photon energy can also be related to the wavelength of the
electromagnetic wave by substituting =c/ which gives

hc
,

[ 2]

Since the photons travel with the electromagnetic wave at the speed of light, they must obey the
relativistic relationship

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p
Combining [2] and [3], we get p

E
,
c

[3]

h
. Like other particles, photons carry linear momentum as well as

energy.
In Einsteins interpretation, a photoelectron is released as a result of an encounter with a single
photon. The entire energy of the photon is delivered instantaneously to a single photoelectron. If the
photon energy h is greater than the work function of the material, the photoelectron will be
released. If the photon energy is smaller than the work function, the photoelectric effect will not occur.
This explanation thus accounts for two of the failures of the wave theory: the existence of the cutoff
frequency and the lack of any measurable time delay.
If the photon energy exceeds the work function, the excess energy appears as the kinetic energy of
the electron:

K max h , [4]
From [4], we can write

h K max , [5]
Since,

h c , we can write [5] as

K max h h c , [6]

The intensity of light source does not appear in this expression. Doubling the intensity of the light
source means that twice as many photoelectrons are released, but they all have precisely the same
maximum kinetic energy.
The maximum kinetic energy corresponds to the release of the least tightly electron. Some electrons
may lose energy through interactions with other electrons in the material and emerge with smaller
kinetic energy.
The photon theory appears to explain all of the
observed features of the photoelectric effect.
The most detailed test of the theory was done
by Robert Milikan in 1915. Milikan measured
the maximum kinetic energy [stopping
potential] for different frequencies of the light
and obtained a plot of the equation

Kmax h
A sample of his results are shown in Fig. 3.
From the slope of the line, Milikan obtained a
value for Plancks constant
h 6.57 x10 34 J .s

Fig: 3 Milikans result for the photoelectric effect in

sodium.

In part for his detailed experiments on the photoelectric effect, Milikan was awarded the 1913 Nobel
prize in physics. Einstein was awarded the 1921 Nobel prize for his photon theory as applied to the
photoelectric effect.
The value of Plancks constant has been measured to great precision in a variety of experiments. The
presently accepted value is h 6.6260755 x10 34 J .s

Example 2:

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The work-function for tungsten metal is 4.52 eV. (a) What is the cut-off wavelength c for tungsten. (b)
What is the maximum K. E of the electron when radiation of wavelength 198 nm is used? (c) What is
the stopping potential in this case?
Solution:
(a) We know that the stopping potential can be written as h c

hc
c

Therefore, we can write the cutoff wavelength c as

hc

1240 eV . nm
274 nm
4.52 eV

(b) Maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectron can be written as

K .Emax h hv c

(c) The stopping potential Vs is given by Vs

hc

1240 eV . nm
4.52 eV 1.74 eV
198 nm

K .Emax 1.74 eV

1.74 V
e
e

COMPTON SCATTERING
A phenomenon called Compton scattering, first explained by the American physicist A. H. Compton,
provides additional direct confirmation of the quantum nature of x-rays. When x-rays strike matter,
some of the radiation is scattered, just as visible light falling on a rough surface undergoes diffusion
reflection. Compton and others discovered that some of the scattered has smaller frequency [longer
wavelength] than the incident radiation and that the change in wavelength depends on the angle
through which the radiation is scattered. Specifically, if the scattered radiation emerges at an angle
with respect to the incident direction, and if and are the wavelengths of the incident and scattered
radiation respectively, we find that

h
[1 cos ],
m0 c

where, m0 is the electron rest mass. The quantity

h
has the unit of length and its value is:
m0c

h
6.626 x10 34 J .s

2.426 x10 12 m
m0c
[9.109 x10 31kg ][ 2.998 x108 m s ]

Fig. 4: A Compton effect experiment

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The Compton scattering is simply the elastic scattering of a photon by an electron, in which both
energy and momentum is conserved.
Since the recoiling electron gains some kinetic energy, the energy E of the scattered photon is less
than Ei , and since the wavelength of a photon is inversely proportional to its energy, the wavelength
of the scattered photon is larger than .
We shall now derive the relation

h
[1 cos ],
m0 c

The electron recoil energy may be in the relativistic range, so

we have to use the relativistic energy

momentum relations. The incident photon has momentum p with magnitude p and energy pc. The

scattered photon has momentum p with magnitude p and energy pc. The electron is at rest initially,
so its initial momentum is zero and its initial energy is its rest energy m0c 2 . The final electron

momentum P has magnitude P and the final electron energy E is given by

E 2 [m0c 2 ]2 [Pc ]2 ,

Then the conservation of energy gives us the relation

pc m0c 2 pc E,
or ,

[ pc pc m0c 2 ]2 E 2
[m0c 2 ]2 [Pc ]2 ,

[a ]

We may eliminate the electron momentum P from this

equation by using momentum conservation:

p p P

P p p,

or ,

[b ]

By taking the scalar product of each side of [b], we get

P 2 p 2 p2 2pp cos
We now substitute this expression into [a] and after
simplification get
We

m0c m0c

1 cos ,
p
p

[c ] now

substitute p h , p h into [c] and get

a. Compton shift

h
[1 cos ]
m0c

p
p

Fig. 5: (a) An incident photon with wavelength , energy E

and momentum p approaching an electron e at rest.

(b) The incident photon is scattered through an angle and
the struck electron recoils.
(c) Vector diagram for the conservation of momentum.

h
[1 cos ] is independent of the wavelength of the
m0c

incident x-rays.

h
c. Compton wavelength = c m c cons tan t
0

b. Fractional wavelength shift =

d. Fractional energy loss =

E E h h c c

E
h
c

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Photon-atom interactions:
[1] Elastic scattering:
The energy of the incoming photon is too small to excite the atom to an excited state, so the atom
remains in its ground state and the photon is said to be scattered. Since the incoming and scattered
photons have the same energy, the scattering is said to be elastic.

[2] Inelastic scattering:

Inelastic scattering occurs when the incident photon has enough energy to excite the atom to one of its
excited states. The energy of the scattered photon is less than that of the incident photon by E, the
difference between the energy of the ground state and the energy of the excited state. Inelastic
scattering of light from molecules was first observed by C. V. Raman and is often called Raman
scattering.

[3] Fluorescence:
When the energy of the incident photon is great enough to excite to one of its higher excited states,
the atom then loses its energy by spontaneous emission as it makes one or more transitions to lower
energy states. A common example occurs when the atom is excited by ultraviolet light and emits
visible light as it returns to its ground state. This process is called fluorescence. Since the lifetime of a
typical excited atomic state is of the order of 10 -8 s, this process appears to occur instantaneously.
However, some excited states have much longer lifetimes-of the order of milliseconds or even
minutes. Such a state is called a metastable state. Phosphorescent materials have very long-lived
metastable states and so emit light long after the original excitation.

[4] Photoelectric effect:

In this process, the absorption of the photon ionizes the atom by causing the emission of an electron.

[5] Compton scattering:

This occurs if the energy of the incident photon is much greater than the ionization energy.
Example 3: Compare Compton scattering for x-rays ( 20 pm) and visible light ( 500 nm) at a
particular angle of scattering. Which has greater [a] Compton shift, [b] fractional wavelength shift, [c]
fractional photon energy change and [d] energy imparted to the electron.

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