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Wave Nature of Particles

The document summarizes key experiments that demonstrated the wave-particle duality of matter. It discusses de Broglie's hypothesis that particles are associated with waves, and experiments like Davisson-Germer and G.P. Thomson's that showed electrons exhibiting diffraction patterns consistent with behaving as waves. It also introduces the phase and group velocity of waves, how they apply to relativistic and non-relativistic particles, and concludes by explaining Heisenberg's uncertainty principle through examples like the single slit diffraction and a thought experiment involving a gamma ray microscope.

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20 views

Wave Nature of Particles

The document summarizes key experiments that demonstrated the wave-particle duality of matter. It discusses de Broglie's hypothesis that particles are associated with waves, and experiments like Davisson-Germer and G.P. Thomson's that showed electrons exhibiting diffraction patterns consistent with behaving as waves. It also introduces the phase and group velocity of waves, how they apply to relativistic and non-relativistic particles, and concludes by explaining Heisenberg's uncertainty principle through examples like the single slit diffraction and a thought experiment involving a gamma ray microscope.

Uploaded by

Lin
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WAVE NATURE OF PARTICLES

In Black body experiment, photoelectric effect and Compton scattering


electromagnetic waves behave like particles. If so, De Broglie hypothesized that
particles should also behave like waves in some instances. A particle with
momentum 𝑝 is associated with a plane wave of wavelength 𝜆. They are related by
De Broglie’s relation
ℎ
𝑝=
𝜆
Since momentum is a vector quantity, it is preferable to express it interms of
the wave vector.
⃗⃗
𝑝⃗ = ħ𝑘
For Photons from Planck’s law 𝐸 = ℎ𝜈. The relativistic expression for energy
𝐸 =𝑝 𝑐 +𝑚 𝑐
The rest mass of photon is zero. So
𝐸 = 𝑝𝑐 = ℎ𝜈
ℎ𝜈 ℎ
= 𝑝=
𝑐 𝜆
DAVISSON-GERMER EXPERIMENT
The simplest way to prove that particles behave like waves is to let them
undergo diffraction. A beam of particles is diffracted by a slit whose dimension
must be comparable to the De Broglie wavelength. 𝜆 being too small, the regularly
spaced planes in a crystal provide for a “grating”.
x-ray diffraction of crystals had been established when Davisson and
Germer accidently observed diffraction effects when an electron beam was
incident on a metal target.
The experimental setup is sketched below. Electrons emitted from an
electron gun are collimated and incident on a Nickel crystal. The electrons are
scattered in all directions. An electron detector measures the electron flux at
different angles of scattering.
A polar diagram is drawn between the angle of scattering 𝜃 and the electron flux
as the radius 𝑟. The experiment is repeated for different 𝜆 by increasing the
accelerating voltage of the electrons. The observed graphs are shown below.

It is clear that for a particular wavelength of the electrons the scattering at a


particular angle is sharp, indicating a diffraction maxima. Applying the diffraction
formula

𝑛𝜆 = 2𝑑 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃
𝑛- order of diffraction
𝜆 – wavelength
𝑑 – plane spacing
𝜃- scattering angle
We could measure the wavelength of the electrons, which matches exactly with the
De Broglie’s relation.

G P THOMSON EXPERIMENT
Instead of using a crystal to diffract electrons, G P Thomson used a thin
metal foil. A collimated electron beam falls normally on the metal foil. A
photographic plate is kept to detect transmitted electrons. Because of axial
symmetry circular fringes are formed in the photographic plate.

PHASE & GROUP VELOCITIES


The phase velocity of a plane wave is given by 𝑣 = 𝜈𝜆 = . It is the
velocity of a phase point on the wave. If two or more plane waves are combined
the resultant wave can have another velocity called group velocity.
Consider a combination of two plane waves with slightly different
wavelengths.
𝑦 = 𝐴 cos(𝜔𝑡 − 𝑘𝑥)
𝑦 = 𝐴 cos [(𝜔 + 𝛿𝜔) 𝑡 − (𝑘 + 𝛿𝑘)]
The resultant wave is characterized by “beats”.
𝑦 + 𝑦 = 𝐴 cos(𝜔𝑡 − 𝑘𝑥) + 𝐴 cos [(𝜔 + 𝛿𝜔) 𝑡 − (𝑘 + 𝛿𝑘)]
𝛿𝜔 𝛿𝑘
= 2𝐴 cos(𝜔𝑡 − 𝑘𝑥)𝑐𝑜𝑠 ( 𝑡− 𝑥)
2 2
The velocity of the group (“beats”) is
𝛿𝜔
𝑣 =
𝛿𝑘
If many waves are combined to form a localized wave packet, the group velocity is
𝑑𝜔
𝑣 =
𝑑𝑘
𝒗 and 𝒗 of a relativistic particle

The relativistic formula for the variation of mass with velocity is


𝑚
𝑚=
√1 − 𝑣
𝑐
Multiplying by 𝑐

𝑚 𝑐
𝑚𝑐 = 𝐸 =
√1 − 𝑣
𝑐
Applying Planck’s formula and De Broglie’s formula

𝑚 𝑐 𝑚 𝑣
ħ𝜔 = ħ𝑘 =
√1 − 𝑣 √1 − 𝑣
𝑐 𝑐
𝜔 𝑐
𝑣 = =
𝑘 𝑣
𝑑𝜔 𝑣
ħ =𝑚
𝑑𝑣 𝑣
(1 − )
𝑐
𝑑𝑘 𝑚 𝑣 𝑚
ħ = +
𝑑𝑣 𝑐 𝑣
(1 − ) √1 − 𝑣
𝑐 𝑐
𝑚 𝑣 𝑚 𝑣
= + (1 − )
𝑐 𝑣 𝑣 𝑐
(1 − ) (1 − )
𝑐 𝑐
𝑑𝑘 𝑚
ħ =
𝑑𝑣 𝑣
(1 − )
𝑐
𝑑𝜔 𝑑𝜔 𝑑𝑣
𝑣 = = =𝑣
𝑑𝑘 𝑑𝑘 𝑑𝑣

𝒗 and 𝒗 of a non-relativistic particle

𝑝
𝐸=
2𝑚
ħ 𝑘
ħ𝜔 =
2𝑚
𝜔 ħ𝑘 𝑝 𝑣
𝑣 = = = =
𝑘 2𝑚 2𝑚 2
𝑑𝜔 ħ𝑘
𝑣 = = =𝑣
𝑑𝑘 𝑚
HEISENBERG’S UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE
𝑒( )
represents a plane wave propagating in the positive x-direction
with momentum given by 𝑝 = ħ𝑘 As a plane wave it is infinite in extent. The
particle could be anywhere between −∞ to +∞. Therefore ∆𝑥 = ∞. On the other
hand, because wavelength is precisely fixed ∆𝑘 = ∆𝑝 = 0
Consider a highly localized wave represented by Dirac 𝛿 function 𝛿(𝑥 − 𝑥 ) .
The particle is located at 𝑥 = 𝑥 . Hence ∆𝑥 = 0. To create a highly localized wave
packet, waves of all momenta have to be combined. This means the momentum
highly uncertain ∆𝑝 = ∞ .

The mathematical tool that connects that connects wave function in x-space
to the function in p-space is Fourier Transform. The Fourier transform of Gaussian
function is also a Gaussian function except that the width are inversely related.

This observation leads to the Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.


It is impossible to measure a pair of canonically conjugate variables exactly and simultaneously
ħ
∆𝑥 ∆𝑝 ≥
2
ħ
∆𝐸 ∆𝑡 ≥
2
Illustration of Uncertainty Principle: Single Slit Diffraction

Consider the diffraction of a beam of monochromatic light by a single slit.


Let the width of the slit be ∆𝑦. The 𝑦 coordinate of a photon passing through the
slit is uncertain by a value equal to the width of the slit ∆𝑦. Because of diffraction
by the slit, the light diverges as shown in the figure. This means 𝑝 of the photon
becomes uncertain by say ∆𝑝 . It is well known in wave optics that the spread of
the diffraction pattern (related to ∆𝑝 ) increases with decrease in the width ∆𝑦 of
the slit. This illustrates the Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.

Illustration of Uncertainty Principle: Gamma Ray Microscope


Consider this thought experiment of a Gamma ray microscope. Gamma
rays illuminate an electron and the photons are focused by means of a lens system.
Let the position of the electron is 𝑥. The accuracy with which the microscope
resolves the electron is limited by
𝜆
∆𝑥 =
sin(𝑑)

where 𝑑 is the angle of the cone of waves entering the microscope. When a
photon strikes an electron, it recoils with a momentum proportional to .The
scattered photon enters the microscope with an angle uncertain by 𝑑. Thus the
uncertainty of electron’s momentum according to Compton effect is
ℎ
∆𝑝 ≈ sin(𝑑)
𝜆
Multiplying the two equations above, we get
𝜆 ℎ
∆𝑥∆𝑝 ≈ sin(𝑑) ≈ ℎ
sin(𝑑) 𝜆

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