EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATION OF PHOTOELECTRIC
EMISSION
Even though photoemission can occur from any material, it is most readily observed
from metals and other conductors. This is because the process produces a charge
imbalance which, if not neutralized by current flow, results in the increasing potential
barrier until the emission completely ceases. The energy barrier to photoemission is
usually increased by nonconductive oxide layers on metal surfaces, so most practical
experiments and devices based on the photoelectric effect use clean metal surfaces in
evacuated tubes. Vacuum also helps observing the electrons since it prevents gases
from impeding their flow between the electrodes
As sunlight, due to atmosphere's absorption, does not provide much ultraviolet light, the
light rich in ultraviolet rays used to be obtained by burning magnesium or from an arc
lamp. At the present time, mercury-vapor lamps, noble-gas discharge UV lamps
and radio-frequency plasma sources, ultraviolet lasers, and synchrotron insertion
device light sources prevail.
Schematic of the experiment to demonstrate the photoelectric effect. Filtered, monochromatic
light of a certain wavelength strikes the emitting electrode (E) inside a vacuum tube. The
collector electrode (C) is biased to a voltage VC that can be set to attract the emitted electrons,
when positive, or prevent any of them from reaching the collector when negative.
The classical setup to observe the photoelectric effect includes a light source, a set of
filters to monochromatize the light, a vacuum tube transparent to ultraviolet light, an
emitting electrode (E) exposed to the light, and a collector (C) whose voltage VC can be
externally controlled.]
A positive external voltage is used to direct the photoemitted electrons onto the
collector. If the frequency and the intensity of the incident radiation are fixed, the
photoelectric current I increases with an increase in the positive voltage, as more and
more electrons are directed onto the electrode. When no additional photoelectrons can
be collected, the photoelectric current attains a saturation value. This current can only
increase with the increase of the intensity of light.
An increasing negative voltage prevents all but the highest-energy electrons from
reaching the collector. When no current is observed through the tube, the negative
voltage has reached the value that is high enough to slow down and stop the most
energetic photoelectrons of kinetic energy Kmax. This value of the retarding voltage is
called the stopping potential or cut off potential Vo. Since the work done by the retarding
potential in stopping the electron of charge e is eVo, the following must hold eVo = Kmax.
The current-voltage curve is sigmoidal, but its exact shape depends on the experimental
geometry and the electrode material properties.
For a given metal surface, there exists a certain minimum frequency of
incident radiation below which no photoelectrons are emitted. This frequency is called
the threshold frequency. Increasing the frequency of the incident beam increases the
maximum kinetic energy of the emitted photoelectrons, and the stopping voltage has to
increase. The number of emitted electrons may also change because
the probability that each photon results in an emitted electron is a function of photon
energyAn increase in the intensity of the same monochromatic light (so long as the
intensity is not too high), which is proportional to the number of photons impinging on
the surface in a given time, increases the rate at which electrons are ejected—the
photoelectric current I—but the kinetic energy of the photoelectrons and the stopping
voltage remain the same. For a given metal and frequency of incident radiation, the rate
at which photoelectrons are ejected is directly proportional to the intensity of the incident
light.
The time lag between the incidence of radiation and the emission of a photoelectron is
very small, less than 10−9 second. Angular distribution of the photoelectrons is highly
dependent on polarization (the direction of the electric field) of the incident light, as well
as the emitting material's quantum properties such as atomic and molecular orbital
symmetries and the electronic band structure of crystalline solids. In materials without
macroscopic order, the distribution of electrons tends to peak in the direction of
polarization of linearly polarized light. The experimental technique that can measure
these distributions to infer the material's properties is angle-resolved photoemission
spectroscopy.
