Chapter 28 The photoelectric effect and wave–particle duality 451

device is 10 MΩ. In daylight its resistance falls to 1 kΩ.

Figure 28.10b shows how an LDR may be used with a
transistor switch to turn a light bulb on when it is dark
and off when it is light.
Photovoltaic devices
Photovoltaic devices generate an e.m.f. when light falls
on them. When light is incident on the junction region of
a semiconductor diode, electron–hole pairs are generated
as electrons are excited from the valence band to the
conduction band. Because a barrier potential exists across
the p-n junction region, the electrons can flow only in
one direction across the junction, while holes can flow
only in the opposite direction. A current is thus generated
in an external circuit connected across the junction,
and energy is transferred from the light photons to the
current.
The selenium photocell shown in Figure 28.11 is used as
the light sensor in a photographic exposure meter.
You will find more details about the construction and
applications of semiconductor photoconductive and
photovoltaic devices in Chapter 22.
Matter waves
We have seen that electromagnetic (EM) radiation
exhibits wave–particle duality. EM radiation has
frequency and wavelength (wave behaviour), but it is
quantized as discrete photons, each with energy E = hf.
Photons behave as massless particles.
In 1924 Louis de Broglie proposed that particles with
mass, electrons for example, may also exhibit wave–
particle duality, and so have wave characteristics as well
as their particle properties.
In his theory of relativity Einstein had shown that, even
though it is massless, a photon has momentum, p, given
by
p=
E
c ...............(28.4)
where c is the speed of light and E is the photon energy.
Now for a photon of frequency f and wavelength λ,
E = hf
and
c=fλ
Therefore for a photon,
p=
hf
=
h
fλλ
By analogy, de Broglie argued that a particle with mass m
and velocity v will have a wavelength given by the same
equation, p = hλ
where the momentum is now given by
p = mv.
Thus for all particles, with or without mass,
λ=
h
p ...............(28.5)
This equation, known as the de Broglie relation, links
momentum to wavelength.
Shortly after de Broglie’s proposal, American physicists
Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer and independently
George Paget Thomson (J. J. Thomson’s son), showed
that a beam of cathode rays is diffracted when it passes
through a crystal lattice – in a similar way to light passing
through, or reflected from, a diffraction grating. The
wavelength of the electrons, calculated from the spacing
of the atoms in the crystal and the diffraction angles,
agreed precisely with de Broglie’s predictions.
symbol
metal electrodes on surface
of cadmium sul_de
ab
Figure 28.10 (a) A light-dependent resistor (LDR). (b) A lightsensing
circuit.
ITQ 4 Why is a p-n junction required to produce a steady current