Quantum Theory of Light

Blackbody Radiation

• A black-body is a perfect absorber, it does

not reflect ambient light. The only light
coming from the body is the radiation of
the body itself.
• An object at any temperature emits
radiation. The wavelength of the radiation
decreases as the body gets hotter.
• This radiation has two important
properties, the peak wavelength decreases
with increasing temperature and the total
power emitted increases with increasing
temperature.
• Max Planck stated that the light emitted by a hot object, a blackbody
radiation, is given off in discrete units or quanta.
• Planck made two assumptions: first, the energy contained in
radiation is related to the frequency of the radiation. Second, the
molecules in the walls can only absorb energy in discreet packets,
later to become known as “photons”.
• Planck proposed that light could only have certain energies. The
energy in the blackbody could only have certain fixed values, as
multiples of a constant.
• The Planck Law gives a distribution that peaks at a certain
wavelength, the peak shifts to shorter wavelengths for higher
temperatures.
Photon

• Light is quantized into packets called photons

• Photons have associated quantities:
• frequency, “Greek letter nu”
• wavelength,
• speed, c
• energy:

• The constant is known as the Planck’s constant, = 6.626 x 10 -34 J·s

• The relationship between wavelength, frequency and speed of light is
given by:
• Photons are massless.
The Photoelectric Effect

• A material emits electrons from its surface when illuminated.

• An electron must absorb enough energy from the incident light to
overcome the attraction of positive ions in the material. These
attractions constitute a potential-energy barrier; the light supplies
the “kick” that enables the electron to escape.
• Einstein’s explains that, the stopping potential for a given surface
depends only on the light frequency.
• The maximum kinetic energy for an emitted electron is the energy
gained from a photon minus the work function.
• The work function, , is the minimum energy needed to remove an
electron from the surface.

• Recall that , therefore, the photon’s momentum is:

Electromagnetic Spectra

• The visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum is only between

400nm and 700 nm. The higher the frequency, the shorter the
wavelength and the higher the photon energy.
X-Ray Photons

• First produced in 1895 by the Wilhelm Röntgen by accident. He

discovered that mysterious and very penetrating rays could be
generated by directing a beam of electrons into a metal.

• Electrons are released from the

cathode by thermionic emission, in
which the escape energy is supplied
by heating the cathode to a very high
temperature.
• The anode produces x rays in part
simply by slowing the electrons
abruptly. This process is called
bremsstrahlung (German for “braking
radiation”).
X-Ray Production

• X-ray spectra are produced by de-accelerating electrons. As the

electron looses energy in the metal through collisions with atoms X-
rays are emitted.

bremsstrahlung
• Some electron knocks out electrons in an orbit and free of the atom.
The vacancy in the is filled when an electron from an outer shell of
the atom falls into it, and in the process, a characteristic X-ray photon
is emitted.
• The spectrum of X-rays shows the broad smooth curve is due to the
bremsstrahlung, and the spikes represent the characteristic X-rays.
Compton Scattering