Dr.

Jamil Ahmed
Photoelectric effect and quantum mechanics

The classical picture underlying the photoelectron effect was that the atoms in the metal contained
electrons that were shaken and caused to vibrate by the oscillating electric field of the incident radiation.
Eventually some of them would be shaken loose, and would be ejected from the cathode. It is worthwhile
considering carefully how the number and speed of electrons emitted would be expected to vary with
the intensity and color of the incident radiation along with the time needed to observe the photoelectrons.

Photoelectric effect can only be explained by the quantum concept of radiation. The observations of
photoelectric effect experimentally provides with the following conclusions -
1. The photocurrent is proportional to the intensity of incident radiation.
2. The magnitude of stopping potential and hence the maximum kinetic energy of emitted
photoelectrons is proportional to the frequency of emitted radiation.
3. There exists a minimum threshold frequency so that if radiation of frequency lesser than this
threshold frequency is incident on the metal surface, there is no photoemission irrespective of
intensity of radiation.

Einstein's explanation -
Einstein used Max Planck's concept of quantized radiation packets each of an energy E=hν, where
h is Planck's constant and ν is frequency of radiation.
According to Einstein, a single photon upon being incident on the metal surface interacts with one
electron and transfers it's entire energy to the electron. Then it is emitted with a maximum kinetic energy,
Kmax=hν−ϕo
Where, ϕo is the work function of the metal.

This explains the fact that maximum kinetic energy increases linearly with frequency of incident
radiation. Now for a frequency, νo so that hνo=ϕo implies that for radiation of frequency less than νo the
maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectron turns out to be negative and hence, no photoemission is
possible. This explains the concept of threshold frequency νo below which photoemission is not possible
even with an extremely intense beam of light.
Since, ϕo depends on the metal and the nature of the surface, the work function and hence the threshold
frequency varies from substance to substance. Also intensity of radiation from the quantum concept is
associated with number of photons incident on a unit area in unit time. That is, a greater intensity implies
that a greater number of photons are incident on the metal surface per unit area in unit time. Now since a
single photon interacts with a single electron causing the emission of the electron, a higher number of
incident photons imply that a greater number of photoelectrons are emitted in unit time. Consequently, the
current increases with the number of photons incident and hence with the intensity of radiation used.

Source:
1. https://socratic.org/questions/how-would-you-explain-the-photoelectric-effect-using-quantum-
theory#:~:text=Photoelectric%20effect%20can%20only%20be%20explained%20by%20the%20quantum%
20concept%20of%20radiation.&text=1)%20The%20photocurrent%20is%20proportional,the%20frequency
%20of%20emitted%20radiation.
2. https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/Pacific_Union_College/Quantum_Chemistry/01%3A_The_Dawn_of_t
he_Quantum_Theory/1.03%3A_Photoelectric_Effect_Explained_with_Quantum_Hypothesis