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m
e
. %".)+
.he distri(ution o0 ener,y o0 the electrons in the metal sur0ace can (e e/-lained usin,
1uantum mechanics and >ermi statistics
4
. Bein, >ermi -articles, electrons 0ollo2 the >ermi3'irac
distri(ution
!
n3 =
1
e
4 3 / 3
1
T
1
2hich descri(es the avera,e num(er o0 electrons distri(uted (y their 2avenum(er, 3, 2here 4%3+ is the
4
Figure ).1: .ircuit schematic of apparatus
4
$
cathode
anode
electron ener,y, 5 is the chemical -otential at that state, 3
1
is the BoltDmann constant, and T is the
tem-erature. In terms o0 ener,y, the density o0 states in "' 0or a 0ree -article is / 4~4
8
, ,ivin, the
distri(ution o0 ener,y as
n4~
*
4
4
e
4 / 3
1
T
1
d4 .
%"."+
.he inte,rand in E1uation "." is -lotted in >i,ure ".). #ince 4 G 2 and f G 6, the I34 curve should
0ollo2 E1uation ".", and its derivative d6 / d2 vs. 2 should resem(le >i,ure ".", 2ithin the validity o0
the assum-tions.
>i,ure ".4 sho2s an ener,y level vie2
B
o0 ho2 the ener,y o0 an a(sor(ed -hoton shi0ts the ener,y o0 a
0ree electron in an >ermi sea %metal sur0ace, 0or this case+. Part o0 the ener,y hf is used to raise the
electron ener,y a(ove the >ermi ener,y, E
F
, 2hile the remainder contri(utes to its ;inetic ener,y.
!
Figure ).): /istribution of energies for free particles
Figure ).*: Energy level representation of free electron e"citation from a photon
n
.hus, de-endin, on the 0re1uency o0 li,ht used, the distri(ution o0 ;inetic ener,ies o0 the electrons
2ould (e di00erent.
4. Determination of the Stoppin !oltaes
Currently, the method o0 o(tainin, the sto--in, volta,es 0rom the I34 curves o0
-hotoelectron detectors is much o0 an art. .his section descri(es -o-ular techni1ues mentioned (y
=u,hes and 'uBrid,e
, =all and
.uttle
&
, and @ri,ht
1*
also descri(e the 0unctional, yet unscienti0ic, techni1ue o0 -lottin,
6 vs 2, that
-rovides a strai,ht line in the re,ion be to 2hich a linear 0it can (e made to determine the 23interce-t
sto--in, -otential.
". Data and Data Analysis
>our sets o0 data 2ere com-iled 2ith the 0inal set -resented in $--endi/ B. .his set
consists o0 results recorded over t2o days %1
th
and )*
th
Nov )**!+, o0 2hich there are sli,ht
discre-ancies (et2een data recorded in each day, due to si,ni0icant cali(ration dri0t. $0ter some care0ul
corrections and re3normaliDations to reduce the systematic dri0t errors, the data is -lotted in >i,ure !.1,
to sho2 the I34 characteristic o0 the PM. 0or the 0ive availa(le 0ilters.
B
Figure ,.1: #caled 6-2 charateristics for various colors of light incident on the ';T.
.ompare $ith curve abcde in Figure *.1.
Most o0 this data set 2as collected under lo2 li,ht conditions in a room 2ithout li,hts and
2ith an uncovered 2indo2, either a0ter dar; or 2ith a overcast s;y 2ith dim dayli,ht. =o2ever, even
2ith the mercury lam- turned o00, and the PM. totally covered (y a the o-a1ue -art o0 the 0ilter disc,
and a (lac; cloth, a dar; current is still noticea(le. .he dar; current 0or the 2orst3case, (ri,htest
environment %see >i,ure !.)+, is considered 0or its contri(ution to the error in measurin, 6. .he
ma,nitude o0 the dar; current en0orces the -ositionin, o0 the mercury lam- close enou,h to the PM. to
-rovide a hi,h enou,h ma/imum 0or2ard current to minimiDe its e00ects.
.he (i,,est contri(ution to the error, thou,h, is the a0orementioned Hcali(ration dri0tI. >or
every 0e2 readin,s, the ma/imum 0or2ard current is chec;ed to determine ho2 much it has dri0ted,
es-ecially 0or the yello2 0re1uency. Jead:ustin, the lam- reduces the dri0t, and 0rom ho2 o0ten this has
to (e done, a va,ue notion o0 the dri0t error is estimated. It is -resented in .a(le !.1. Com(ined 2ith
the intrinsic errors o0 usin, the -icoammeter and multimeter, the total errors are estimated.
@or;in, in normaliDed currents,
< =6 / 6
*
, 2here
6
*
is the ma/imum 0or2ard current 0or
Yellow Green Blue Violet UV
Drift Error (nA) 1* " 1 4 ".!
Table ,.1: 2ery rough estimates of the drift errors for each measurement at the particular fre=uencies.
, =all
and .uttle
&
, and @ri,ht
1*
, the 1uantity
?=
< <
r
fit
%!.1+
is -lotted a,ainst 2, to -roduce nearly strai,ht lines near the 23interce-ts %>i,ure !.4+. .his is 0it
linearly as
?
fit
=A
?
1
?
2 .
%!.)+
>rom the 23interce-t o0 E1uation !.), the sto--in, volta,e is
2
s
=A
?
/ 1
?
%!."+
>i,ure !.! -lots each 2
#
corres-ondin, to its 0re1uency, f, and conducts a 0it accordin, to E1uation ".).
1*
Figure ,.,: /etermination of the ratio he from stopping voltages. The large error in
the yello$ 8lo$est9 fre=uency is due to the severe calibration drift for that color. The
upper plot sho$s results from :all and Tuttle
@
included for comparison.
>rom 1uadrature, the errors in < and <
r
are calculated as
< =
6
6
*
6
6
*
)
6
*
)
=
1
6
*
6
)
6
6
*
6
*
)
%!.4+
Usin, $--endi/ $, the uncertainties in the coe00icients o0 <
r
fit
are determined and used to determine
<
r
fit
=
A
r
2 1
r
1
r
2
)
.
%!.!+
.he error in ? is
?=
1
) ?
<
)
<
r
fit
)
,
%!.8+
2hich is used to -rovide the 2ei,hts 0or the 2ei,hted linear least s1uares 0or ?
fit
. =avin, 2or;ed
out, via $--endi/ $, the errors in the coe00icients o0
?
fit
, the error in 2
#
is
2
s
=
A
?
1
?
1
?
)
)
A
?
1
?
)
.
%!.B+
>inally, 0rom E1uation ".) and $--endi/ $, the error in h5e, is h/ e=1 . @ith all the values
com-uted via Matla(, the ratio is 0ound to (e h/ e=".4*."1*
1!
4s . .his result is 17 o00 0rom the
acce-ted value o0 h/ e=8.8)81*
"4
Ls/ 1.8*)1*
1&
C=4.1"81*
1!
4s . .he latter value also lies
outside the ran,e o0 error 0or this e/-eriment, su,,estin, that the set3u- and5or -rocedure is not ,ood
enou,h to -rovide accurate results.
#. Alternati$e %ethods of Determinin Stoppin !oltaes
.he -revious analysis has (een used to determine the h5e ratio, (ecause o0 its sim-licity and
-o-ularity
,&,1*
. =o2ever, other more esoteric schemes have (een e/-lored.
11
Instead o0 doin, linear 0its on the data at the reverse current and interce-t re,ions, nonlinear
Figure 0.1: E"ponential fit of the reverse currents
Figure 0.2: E"ponential fit of the intercept region
e/-onential 0its o0 the 0orm a
r
e
b
r
2
c
r
is used %>i,ure 8.1, 8.)+. .his ,ives smaller residuals 0or 2ider
ran,es, (ut have uncertainties in the -arameters too lar,e that it de0eats usin, this techni1ue. @ith this,
h5e 2as calculated to (e h/ e="B1*
1!
4s , 2hich is unacce-ta(le.
$nother analysis involves loo;in, at the di00erence (et2een ad:acent -lots to ,ive the
derivative -lot d6 / d2 vs2 , in an attem-t to veri0y the theory descri(ed in at the end o0 #ection ", a(out
the >ermi3'irac distri(ution. Un0ortunately, as >i,ure 8." sho2s, the ,ra-hs do not (ehave as e/-ectedA
the -ea;s are all almost ali,ned, and the 2idths increase 2ith increasin, 0re1uency. Pro(a(ly, (ecause
1)
Figure 0.): 'lot of adjacent difference in 6 divided by the
adjacent difference in 2 against 2. .ompare $ith Figure
).) to see that the t$o are not similar.
Figure 0.*: E"ponential fit of the reverse currents
the electrons are not truly 0ree. =o2ever, on closer ins-ection, the interce-t re,ion %2hich are a(out
hal0 o0 the ori,inal analysis+ o0 this ,ra-h is also almost linear. .his su,,ests the use o0 linear 0its to
o(tain the 23interce-ts to determine 2
#
may (e 0easi(le. But ,iven the com-le/ity and lac; o0 use o0
this method, it is un0avora(le.
&. 'onclusion
.he sim-le e/-eriment o0 usin, a retardin, -otential to investi,ate -hotoelectrons to 0ind
the h5e ratio has ,iven rise to the value ".4*."1*
1!
4s 2hich is too 0ar 0rom the acce-ted value o0
4.1"81*
1!
4s . =o2ever, historically, there have (een e/-eriments
&,1*,11
conducted in a similar
manner that have ,iven much more accurate results, even thou,h the technolo,y used here, such as the
PM., did not e/ist then. .his su,,ests that much has to (e done to control the e/-erimental conditions
to 0urther reduce errors, es-ecially the cali(ration dri0t. $lso, it 2as also realiDed that the theory 0or the
-hotoelectric e00ect could still (e much more thorou,hly investi,ated to e/-lain the results discussed
re,ardin, the nonlinear (ehavior o0 the I34 characteristics. Even 2ith the im-rovements in error
1"
reduction, it seems that this classical a--roach to determinin, h5e usin, the -hotoelectric e00ect, thou,h
sim-le, is -rone to systematic errors.
Ac(no)ledements
My a--reciation ,oes out to Pro0 McEuen 0or his ,uidance, and -atience in ans2erin, the
many 1uestions I had, and Pro0 Loel Broc; 0or his -ointin, out the >ermi3'irac distri(ution o0 the
-hotoelectrons and ho2 -hoton e/citation a00ects it.
**************************************
+eferences
1. $. Einstein, $nn. d. Phys. 1,, 1") %1&*!+.
). J. $. Milli;an, Phys. Jev. B, "!! %1&18+.
". 'atasheet 0or =amamatsu Photonics C.C., Photomulti-lier .u(e 1P). Jetrieved 0rom
htt-A55sales.hamamatsu.com5assets5-d05-artsMmisc51P).-d0 on 4
th
'ecem(er )**!.
4. >. C. Jichtmyer, E. =. Cennard, 6ntroduction to ;odern 'hysics, 4E, Mc?ra23=ill, Ne2 Yor;,
1&4B, #ec !13!), !8, -&13&4, 1**31*".
!. J. Bo2ley, M. #NncheD, 6ntroductory #tatistical ;echanics, )E, 9/0ord #cience Pu(lications,
)**4, #ec 1*.)31*.", -)1)3)18.
8. J. Bo2ley, M. #NncheD, 6ntroductory #tatistical ;echanics, )E, 9/0ord #cience Pu(lications,
)**4, #ec B.", -1!*31!1.
B. L. '. Broc;, -rivate communication.
. $. L. =u,hes, L. $. 'uBrid,e, 'hotoelectric 'henomena, Mc?ra23=ill, Ne2 Yor;, 1&"),
Ch13), -13"B.
14
&. =. =. =all, J. P. .uttle, $m. Lour. Phys. "-, !* %1&B*+.
1*. @. J. @ri,ht, $merican Physics .eacher %$m. Lour. Phys.+ ", 8! %1&"B+.
11. $. C. Melissinos, E/-eriments in Modern Physics, $cademic Press, 1&88, ch1, -13)B.
1!