Heisenberg Uncertainty

Outline
- Heisenberg Microscope
- Measurement Uncertainty
- Example: Hydrogen Atom
- Example: Single Slit Diffraction
- Example: Quantum Dots

TRUE / FALSE
A photon (quantum of light) is reflected from a
mirror.
(A) Because a photon has a zero mass, it does not
exert a force on the mirror.
(B) Although the photon has energy, it cannot
transfer any energy to the surface because it has
zero mass.
(C) The photon carries momentum, and when it
reflects off the mirror, it undergoes a change in
momentum and exerts a force on the mirror.
(D) Although the photon carries momentum, its
change in momentum is zero when it reflects from
the mirror, so it cannot exert a force on the mirror.
2

Gaussian Wavepacket in Space

GAUSSIAN
ENVELOPE

In free space

this plot then shows the PROBABILITY OF

WHICH k (or ENERGY) EM WAVES are
MOST LIKELY TO BE IN THE WAVEPACKET

WAVE PACKET

Gaussian Wavepacket in Time

WAVE PACKET

UNCERTAINTY RELATIONS

Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle

uncertainty
in momentum

uncertainty
in position

The more accurately you know the position (i.e., the smaller x is),
the less accurately you know the momentum (i.e., the larger p is);
and vice versa
5

Heisenberg realised that ...

In the world of very small particles, one cannot
measure any property of a particle without
interacting with it in some way
This introduces an unavoidable uncertainty into
the result
One can never measure all the
properties exactly

Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976)

Image in the Public Domain

Measuring Position and Momentum

of an Electron
Shine light on electron and detect
reflected light using a microscope
BEFORE
ELECTRON-PHOTON
COLLISION

Minimum uncertainty in position

is given by the wavelength of the light
So to determine the position
accurately, it is necessary to use
light with a short wavelength
incident
photon
electron
7

Measuring Position and Momentum

of an Electron
By Plancks law E = hc/, a photon with a
short wavelength has a large energy
Thus, it would impart a large kick to the electron

AFTER
ELECTRON-PHOTON
COLLISION

But to determine its momentum accurately,

electron must only be given a small kick
This means using light of long wavelength
scattered
photon

recoiling
electron

Light Microscopes
incident
photon
electron

Suppose the positions and speeds of all particles in

the universe are measured to sufficient accuracy at a
particular instant in time
It is possible to predict the motions of every particle at
any time in the future (or in the past for that matter)

An intelligent being knowing, at a given instant of time, all forces acting in nature, as well as the
momentary positions of all things of which the universe consists, would be able to comprehend the
motions of the largest bodies of the world and those of the smallest atoms in one single formula,
provided it were sufficiently powerful to subject all the data to analysis; to it, nothing would be
uncertain, both future and past would be present before its eyes.
Pierre Simon Laplace
9

Number of People (N)

Review: Probability - a closer look at x

Age (j)
Probability of someone with age j:

Average age (expected age):

General expected value:

where
10

Number of People (N)

Review: Probability

Age (j)
One distribution is more spread out than the other.
What weve been loosely
calling j is actually
Variance

Expected
value of j2

(Expected
value of j)2
11

Standard deviation

Review: Probability
A closer look at x

e-

0.1 nm
Probability of being at position x:

General expected value:

Expected (average) position:

Uncertainty in position:
12

Heisenberg Example:
Diffraction

What is the spread of electrons on the screen ?

The slit gives information about y
bound on

Barrier

spread in
and if you look closely you will see

Intensity

Barrier

13

Classical Hydrogen Atom

Classically we know that negatively charged electron is attracted to
the proton, and it was suggested that the electron circles the proton.
But if an electron is circling, every-time it changes direction it is
accelerated, and an accelerating charge emits EM radiation (light).
Classically, it can be calculated that the radiation of the electron
would cause it to gradually loose its rotational kinetic energy and
collapse on top of the proton within 10-9 seconds !

14

Hydrogen Atom

Consider a single hydrogen atom:

an electron of charge = -e free to move around
in the electric field of a fixed proton of charge = +e
(proton is ~2000 times heavier than electron, so we consider it fixed).
The electron has a potential energy due to the attraction to proton of:
where r is the electron-proton separation

The electron has a kinetic energy of

The total energy is then

15

Classically, the minimum energy of the hydrogen atom is

the state in which the electron is on top of the proton p = 0, r = 0.

Quantum mechanically, the uncertainty principle forces the electron to
have non-zero momentum and non-zero expectation value of position.
If a is an average distance electron-proton distance,
the uncertainty principle informs us that the minimum electron
momentum is on the order of /a.
The energy as a function of a is then:

16

If we insist on placing the electron right on top of the proton (a=0),

the potential energy is still , just as it is classically, but the
total energy is:

Quantum mechanics tells us that an ATOM COULD NEVER COLLAPSE

as it would take an infinite energy
to locate the electron on top of the proton
17

The minimum energy state, quantum mechanically, can be estimated

by calculating the value of a=ao for which E(a) is minimized:

E [eV]

0.5

AS A FUNCTION OF a
THE TOTAL ENERY
LOOKS LIKE THIS

a []

-13.6

By preventing localization of the electron near the proton, the Uncertainty Principle
RETARDS THE CLASSICAL COLLAPSE OF THE ATOM,
PROVIDES THE CORRECT DENSITY OF MATTER,
and YIELDS THE PROPER BINDING ENERGY OF ATOMS
18

One might ask:

If light can behave like a particle,
might particles act like waves?
YES !
Particles, like photons, also have a wavelength given by:

de Broglie wavelength

The wavelength of a particle depends on its momentum,

just like a photon!
The main difference is that matter particles have mass,
and photons dont !
19

Nobel Prize

Alfred Nobel was born in1833 in Stockholm,

Sweden. He was a chemist, engineer, and
inventor. In 1894 Nobel purchased the Bofors iron
and steel mill, which he converted into a major
armaments manufacturer. Nobel amassed a
fortune during his lifetime, most of it from his 355
inventions, of which dynamite is the most famous.
In 1888, Alfred was astonished to read his own
obituary in a French newspaper. It was actually
Alfred's brother Ludvig who had died. The article
disconcerted Nobel and made him apprehensive
about how he would be remembered. This inspired
him to change his to bequeathed 94% of his total
assets (US$186 million in 2008) to establish the
five Nobel Prizes. Today the Nobel Foundation has
US$560 million.
Winners receive a diploma, medal, and monetary
award. In 2009, the monetary award was US$1.4
million.
20

Alfred Nobel
Image in the Public Domain

Do particles exhibit interference ?

Position
On Screen
Partition
With Slits

Screen

Firing bullets
at a
double -slit
with one slit
closed

Firing electrons
at a
double -slit
with one slit
closed

21

What about the other slit ?

Again, you just get a rather expected result

22

What if both slits are open ?

With bullets, you get
what appears to be a
simple sum of the
two intensity distributions.

With electrons, you find

an interference pattern,
just like with light waves ?

?
?

Huh ? Come again ?

So, forms of matter do exhibit wave behavior (electrons) and

others (bullets) dont ? Whats going on here ?
23

Electron Diffraction

Wall

Screen

24

Intensity
Graph

Double-Slit Experiment:
act of observation affects behavior of electron

Detector
Detector

Wall

Screen

25

Intensity
Graph

Another Heisenberg Uncertainty Example:

Particle in a Box
MACROSCOPIC

NANOSCALE

e-

1 nm

What is the minimum kinetic energy of the electron in the box?

A quantum particle can never be in a state of rest, as this would
mean we know both its position and momentum precisely
Thus, the carriage will be jiggling around the bottom of the valley
forever

26

Example: Engineering Color

Cell staining

Photo by J. Halpert, Courtesy of M. Bawendi Group, EECS, MIT.

Taking color away from chemists and

giving it to electrical engineers
RGB Display
Everything here is a spherical
nanoparticle of CdSe !!
27

Image courtesy ONE-lab and M. Bawendi Group, EECS, MIT.

Quantum Confinement
another way to know x
Transmission Electron Microscopy
shows the crystalline arrangement
of atoms in a 5nm diameter
CdSe nanocrystal quantum dot

+e

+e

+e

electron can be anywhere in dot

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Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.

28

Colloidal Semiconductor Nanoparticles

Core Shell
Core
Quantum
Dot

Red: bigger dots!

Blue: smaller dots!

Photo by J. Halpert, Courtesy of M. Bawendi Group, EECS, MIT.

29

Quantum Dot Devices

active device region
contains a single QD
monolayer ~5nm thick
Ordered
QD Monolayer

100

nm
100

50
0

50

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Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.

Image courtesy ONE-lab and

Moungi Bawendi Group, MIT

Devices:

Advantages:

QD-LEDs

Color, Pattern, Stability,

QD-Photodetectors

Detectivity

QD-Solar Cells

Tunable Stacks, Efficiency

QD-Floating Gate Memories Enable Device Scaling

30

Summary
Photons carry both energy & momentum.
Matter also exhibits wave properties. For an object of mass m,
and velocity, v, the object has a wavelength, = h / mv
Heisenbergs uncertainty principle:

uncertainty
in momentum

uncertainty
in position
31

MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu

6.007 Electromagnetic Energy: From Motors to Lasers

Spring 2011

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