Exercise 1

What is the ratio of 𝑝𝑓 , the momentum of a photon with energy 𝐸 = 1.17eV to 𝑝𝑒 , the
momentum of an electron with kinetic energy equal to 𝐸? The rest mass of the electron is
511 keV
𝑚𝑒 = c2 .

Exercise 2

The density of states function for electrons in a metal is given by:

1
𝑔(𝐸)d𝐸 = 13.6 × 1027𝐸 2 d𝐸

a.) Calculate the Fermi level at a temperature few degrees above absolute zero for copper
which has 8.5 × 1028 electrons per cubic meter.
b.) Using the results obtained in a.), calculate the velocity of electrons at the Fermi level
in copper.

Exercise 3

The Fermi energy in gold is 5.54 eV.

a.) Calculate the average energy of the free electrons in gold at 0∘ K.

b.) Find the corresponding speed of free electrons.
c.) What temperature is necessary for the average kinetic energy of gas molecules to
possess this value?

Exercise 1
 𝐸
The momentum 𝑝𝑓 of a photon with energy 𝐸 is 𝑝𝑓 = 𝑐 (c is the speed of light). The ratio
of the electron's kinetic energy given in the body of the task to its rest energy (𝑚𝑒 𝑐 2) is
about 2 ⋅ 10−9. Thus, we can describe the kinetic energy of the electron in the framework
of classical mechanics:

𝑝𝑒2
𝐸= ⟶ 𝑝𝑒 = √2𝑚𝑒 𝐸
2𝑚𝑒

The momentum ratio is thus:

𝑝𝑓 𝐸 𝐸
= =√ .
𝑝𝑒 𝑐√2𝑚𝑒 𝐸 2𝑚𝑒 𝑐 2

𝑝
Numerically: 𝑝𝑓 ≈ 1.07 ⋅ 10−3. The given value of the energy 𝐸 corresponds to the energy
𝑒
gap between the valence band and the conduction band in silicon, and the obtained value
of the momentum ratio explains why in semiconductors the optical excitation of an electron
into the conduction band takes place with virtually no change in its momentum.

Exercise 2

Re. a.) Integrating 𝑛(𝐸)𝑑𝐸 from zero to 𝐸F :

𝐸F 1
13.6 × 1027 ∫ 𝐸 2 𝑑𝐸 = 8.5 × 1028
0

3
𝐸F2 = 9.375

Or 𝐸F = 4.445eV

Re. b.)

2𝐸 2 × 4.445 × 1.6 × 10−19 106 m

𝑣=√ =√ = 1.25 ×
𝑚 9.11 × 10−31 s

Exercise 3

Re. a.)

3 3 × 5.54
< 𝐸 >= 𝐸F = = 3.32eV
5 5
The average energy of the conduction electrons is given by
 1 ∞
𝐸𝑎𝑣𝑔 =< 𝐸 >= ∫ 𝐸𝑔(𝐸)𝑓(𝐸)𝑑𝐸
𝑛 0

where 𝑛 is the number of free electrons per unit volume, 𝑔(𝐸) is the density of states, and
1
𝑓(E) is the occupation probability. The density of states is proportional to 𝐸 2, so we may
1
write 𝑔(𝐸) = 𝐶𝐸 2 , where 𝐶 is a constant of proportionality. The occupation probability is
one for energies below the Fermi energy and zero for energies above.

Thus,

𝐶 EF 3 2𝐶 52
𝐸avg = ∫ 𝐸 𝑑𝐸 =
2 𝐸
𝑛 0 5𝑛 F

Now
∞ 𝐸𝐹 1 2𝐶 32
𝑛 = ∫ 𝑁(𝐸)𝑃(𝐸)𝑑𝐸 = 𝐶 ∫ 𝐸 2 𝑑𝐸 = 𝐸
0 0 3 𝐹

We substitute this expression into the formula for the average energy and obtain

2𝐶 52 3 3
𝐸avg = ( ) 𝐸F ( 3 ) = 𝐸F
5 5
2𝐶𝐸F2

Re. b.)
1 1
2𝐸 2 2 × 3.32 2 106 m
𝑣 = 𝑐 ( 2 ) = 3 × 108 ( ) = 1.08 ×
𝑚𝑐 0.511 × 106 s
Re. c.)

3 3
𝑘𝑇 = 𝐸F = 3.32eV = 3.32 × 1.6 × 10−19 J
2 5
2 3.32 × 1.6 × 10−19
𝑇= × = 2.56 × 104 K
3 1.38 × 10−23