Department of Physics, IIT Roorkee

PHB-103 Tutorial 2
Date of Assignment: 9th February 2024

1. Consider a system of three levels in which you have to fill three particles, draw all the possible states
of the system according to a) Maxwell-Boltzmann b) Bose-Einstein c) Fermi-Dirac distribution. What
kind of particle fits each of the distribution? Give an example of each.

2. Let’s consider a semiconductor where the conduction band is 0.23 eV above the Fermi level (EF =
5.2 eV), note that we can not have any states in the gap, but we can obtain the probability. Use
Fermi-Dirac distribution and the density of available states N (E) ≈ 1015 cm−3 , a constant, to find the
concentration of electrons in the conduction band. HINT: Integrate for all the values of E possible.
3. As a mechanism for downward transitions, spontaneous emission competes with thermally stimulated
emission (stimulated emission for which Planck’s radiation is a source). Show that at room temperature
(T = 300 K) thermal stimulation dominates for frequencies well below 5×1012 Hz, whereas spontaneous
emission dominates for frequencies well below 5 × 1012 Hz. Which mechanism dominates for visible
light?
4. In a solid, consider the energy level lying 0.11 eV below the Fermi level. Find the probability of this
level not being occupied by the electron at T = 489 K, given:

Σns ns exp(−βns Eg )
f (Eg ) = (1)
Σns exp(−βns Eg )

where ns is the number of particles we can have in each states, β = 1/KT is a constant for given T
and Eg is the energy gap between Fermi level and the given energy level.
5. Define what a laser is and highlight its properties. Explain how population inversion is achieved in
three-level and four-level lasers?

6. Mercury vapors at 356°C can be considered an excited state of mercury. Suppose a laser could be
constructed based on the transition from mercury vapor to liquid mercury, where the energy lost
per molecule of mercury vapor manifests as a photon. Determine the frequency of such a photon and
identify the corresponding region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The heat of vaporization of mercury
is approximately 59.11 kJ/mol, its molar mass is 200.59 g/mol.

7. Compare and contrast the wavelength of emission between a Ruby laser and a He-Ne laser. Explain
the role of the pumping mechanism in both the lasers.