Unit I: Review of concepts leading to 2023

Quantum Mechanics

Contents

1. Failures of the classical theory

a. Maxwell’s equations and electromagnetic waves
b. Blackbody radiation
c. Atomic spectra
2. Dual nature of radiation – Compton Effect
3. Matter waves
4. Double slit experiment with particles
5. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle
6. Concepts of wave functions
7. Observables, Operators and Expectation values in Quantum mechanics
8. The Schrodinger’s wave equation
9. Time dependent wave equation
10. Time independent wave equation
11. Solutions of the wave equation to interpret a moving free particle
12. Numerical examples

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Review of electric and magnetic fields

Electric Fields

Electric fields are felt due to the presence of electric charges. It is obvious that electric charges
can be isolated. Fundamentally electric charges can be of the positive or the negative charge type.

The fundamental unit of electric charge is the charge of the electron which has a magnitude of
1.602x10-19C

Though an atom is neutral, an electron can be removed from the influence of the nucleus by the
providing enough energy in the form of thermal energies. The atom is then an ion with a unit
positive charge and the electron is a unit of negative charge.

Electric charges can be isolated and separated. The presence of positive or negative charges are
felt by the presence of an electric field. The quantity of the charge at any point would decide the
strength of the electric field. The presence of the charge can be quantified by the electric potential
which is the work done in bringing unit positive charge from infinity to the point at a distance x.

The electric potential at any point x from the charge

The electric potential is inversely proportional to the distance of the test charge from the point
charge. If the charge is positive, external work has to be done in moving the positive charge and if
the charge is negative the field does the work to move the positive charge.

The electric field due to a point charge

The electric field is inversely proportional to the square of the distance of the test charge from the
point charge in reference.

The electric field in terms of the electric potential

The presence of an electric field can be visualized in terms of the flux lines which
indicate the direction of the force felt by the unit positive charge along the line.

In the case of the presence of a positive charge, the lines of force are directed
radially outwards, the direction of repulsion of the test charge.

In the case of the presence of a negative charge, the lines of force are directed
radially inwards, the direction of attraction of the test charge.

The flux of electric field lines is a measure of the electric field at a point and hence a
measure of the amount of charge present at the point.

Magnetic fields

Interestingly magnetic fields are generally due to a dipole – a north and south pole which cannot
be isolated from each other.

Though theoretically a magnetic monopole can exist, no experimental results are available to
confirm the same as of date.

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Just as in the case of electric fields the magnetic field at any point is inversely proportional to the
square of the distance from the magnetic dipole, and the magnetic potential is inversely
proportional to the distance of the reference point from the given dipole.

The magnetic field lines are continuous (closed loops) from the north pole and the south pole
external to the material and the field lines are continuous in
the material as well. The flux of magnetic field lines is
indicative of the strength of the magnetic field at any point.

We are also familiar with magnetic fields created by a current

carrying solenoid. The direction of the current through the
solenoid defines which end of the solenoid behaves as a
north pole or a south pole.

The common observation is that there is a strong interplay between electric fields and magnetic
fields when they are time dependent quantities.

The Ampere’s law - the current through a straight conductor creates a magnetic field around the
wire and the Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction – of an induced current in a closed coil
placed in a time varying magnetic fields are strong evidences for the two forces, electric and
magnetic

1. Maxwell’s equations in a medium

Maxwell summarized the existing ideas of electric and magnetic fields and their inter-related
phenomena into four equations (in 1860) which are known as the Maxwell’s equation. This also
paved the way for describing radiation as an electromagnetic wave.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

[A review of the operations with the operator (nabla operator)

The operator is a partial differential mathematical operator given by where

are the unit vectors in the three orthogonal directions.

The operator when operates on a scalar quantity gives rise to a vector.

The simple multiplication of with a scalar field A written as is the gradient of the field and
gives the direction of the highest rate of change of the field

For example, the operator operating on an electric potential gives the electric field at the point

The dot product of the operator with another vector field results in a scalar quantity which is
referred to as the divergence of the defined field or the rate of change of the field in the three
orthogonal directions.

The cross product of operator with a vector field gives the curl of the field and results in a vector
which is perpendicular to both and the given vector.

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Another important identity with the operator is the curl of the curl of a vector is equal to the
gradient of the divergence of the field minus the Laplacian operating on the vector ie.,

where is the scalar Laplacian operator.]

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Gauss’s law for electric fields

Divergence of the electric field is due to a system of charges enclosed by a surface is given by the
charge density divided by
( Gauss’ law for electric fields)

Gauss’s law for magnetic fields

Divergence of the magnetic field is uniformly zero.

( Gauss’ law for magnetic fields)
This implies the absence of magnetic monopoles.

Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction

The curl of the electric field is equal to the rate of change of the magnetic field which is the
standard Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction.

Ampere - Maxwell circuital law (Ampere’s law modified by Maxwell )

The curl of the magnetic field is given by the current density through the closed loop and the
displacement current

This equation is an extension of the Ampere’s law. The second term represents the concept of
displacement current associated with time varying electric fields which is Maxwell’s contribution.

Maxwell’s equations in free space

In the case of free space (which does not have sources of charges and currents) then the
Maxwell’s equations reduce to

…..……………………………………… (1)
…………………………………………. (2)

…………………………………………. (3)

…………………………………………. (4)
Taking the curl of curl of the electric field the equation can be written as

this reduces to

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Since this reduces to

Substituting for curl of B the above equation simplifies to .

But is the general form of a wave equation. Maxwell observed

and the equation reduces to concluded that the wave equation should be an electric field in

free space travelling at the speed of light

In a very similar way, starting from the curl of the curl of the magnetic field the analysis yields

. This describes a transverse magnetic field vector travelling at the speed of

light.

The electric and magnetic waves must therefore be representing light and hence Maxwell
proposed that light could be treated as electromagnetic waves, where the electric and magnetic
vectors are mutually perpendicular and perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the
radiation.

Consider a 1D electric wave Ex associated with radiation propagating in the Z direction which
can be represented as

This implies that the electric field vector has only an x component and
the other two components Ey and Ez are zero.

Hence the associated magnetic component of the EM wave can be evaluated using the
Maxwell’s third equation namely

Evaluating the curl of the electric field

this implies that

Integrating the above equation with respect to time t we get

since is the velocity of the radiations. We note that the magnetic component of the
EM wave has only the Y component and the magnitude of the wave is times the magnitude of
the electric component of the wave.

Thus, we conclude that the EM waves have coupled electric and magnetic field components
which are mutually perpendicular to each other and both are perpendicular to the direction of
propagation of radiation.

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Energy of EM waves

Classically the energy of waves is equivalent to its intensity which

is square of the amplitude of the waves.

The energy associated with an Electric field per unit volume of

free space is where E is the electric field.

The energy content of the electric component of the wave

The energy content of the magnetic component of the wave

Hence the total energy content of the wave is the sum of the two components .
Poynting Vector
E
EM waves carry energy in the direction perpendicular to the E and
B field variations and is described by the Poynting vector B

c
Ex is however a time varying component and hence to determine the average energy of the
wave transmitted per unit time through unit area can be found out as

This implies that the average energy content of EM waves to be proportional to the square of
the amplitude of the electric or magnetic vector and is independent of the frequency of the
waves. Thus, the classical picture of the EM waves as carriers of energy gives a picture of
frequency independence. For this reason, some of the observed phenomena of interaction of
light with matter could not be consistently explained in spite of the fact that all other observed
phenomena of radiation could be explained by the Maxwell’s EM wave theory.

Polarization states of EM waves

Light is a transverse electromagnetic wave, but natural light is

generally unpolarized, all planes of propagation being equally
probable.

Light in the form of a plane wave in space is said to be linearly polarized. The addition
of a horizontally linearly polarized wave and a vertically polarized wave of the same
amplitude in the same phase result in a linearly polarized at a 45o angle

If an electromagnetic wave is the result of the superposition of two plane waves of equal
amplitude but differing in phase by 90°, then the light is said to be circularly polarized.

If two plane waves of differing amplitude are related in phase by 90°, or if the relative
phase is other than 90° then the light is said to be elliptically polarized.

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2. Black body radiation in equilibrium

Classically the interaction of radiation with matter with radiation is manifested in the way materials
absorb radiations, emitted characteristic wavelengths which gives the color of the material.

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff studied the absorption properties of materials and found
materials which absorb all incident rays. If such a material is heated, then it would
emit all wavelengths of radiation as it absorbed. Such a material is defined as a
black body.

A black body is also modeled as a cavity which does not allow any incident radiation to escape due
to multiple reflections inside the cavity. This cavity when
heated radiates emit radiation of every possible frequency at
a rate which increases with temperature of the body. The
amount of radiant energy does not increase monotonically
with time but is limited by the rate at which the radiation is
also absorbed by the cavity. The amount of energy emitted
at a frequency is limited by the thermodynamic equilibrium of
the absorption and emission processes. It was also observed
that the radiation density in an equilibrium state depends only
on the temperature of the walls of the cavity and does not
depend on the material or structure of the wall. The
distribution as well as the characteristic maximum wavelength shifts to the
lower wavelength side.

The emission from the blackbody at different temperatures can be modeled a

as due to emissions from harmonic oscillators on the surface of the walls of
the cavity. Due to physical dimension of the cavity being large and
the number of harmonic oscillators on the surface of the cavity is
also large, a large range of wavelengths can be emitted. The
emission from the cavity is limited to those radiations which can form
standing waves in the cavity. Consider a cubical cavity of side a. The
wavelengths of the oscillations that can resonate in the cavity has to
satisfy the condition .

Or the frequencies that can sustain in the cavity is given by

The additional no. of frequencies when n changes to dn is

In a three-dimensional cavity the number of frequency states that can

resonate in the cavity is estimated as where

is the radius of a surface in n space for allowed values of nx , ny and nz. This
surface is an octant of a sphere of radius r. The volume of this octant is a measure of the number
of frequency states in the cavity up to the allowed nx , ny and nz

The additional no. of frequencies when r changes to dr is

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The energy density of radiations can be estimated if the number oscillators and their average
energy can be estimated. In the case of a cavity of volume V we can estimate the number of
oscillators with frequencies between as .

Thus the density of frequency states (number of states per unit volume) with frequencies between
as

The Boltzmann distribution function describing the probability of a large number of oscillators with

energy E in thermal equilibrium at temperature T is given by .

Rayleigh and Jeans estimated the average energy of the oscillators using the Boltzmann
distribution function as

This integral for E varying from 0 to infinity gives the equi-partition of energy .

Thus, the energy density (energy per unit volume) of radiations with frequencies between
can be estimated as

This predicts that the intensity of radiations of a given frequency should increase as and at very
high frequencies the intensities must be infinite at any temperature T. This is the Rayleigh Jeans
law which is in contradiction with the experimental observations and termed as the ultraviolet
catastrophe.

A solution to this problem was provided by Max Planck in 1900 when he proposed that the energy
of the harmonic oscillator are restricted to multiples of the fundamental natural frequency times
a constant ) ie., . Thus, the radiations are from a collection of harmonic
oscillators of different frequencies and the energy of the radiations from the oscillators has to be
packets of . Hence the average energy has to determine as a summation of the probabilities of

the energy of the individual oscillators to the total probability as

With this concept of energy of the radiations the average energy of the oscillators can be evaluated
as and the energy density of radiations can be evaluated as

The decrease in the intensity at higher frequencies (smaller wavelengths) can be attributed to the
fact that the excitation of the oscillators to the higher energy states is less probable at lower
temperatures. At higher temperatures, the thermal energy enables oscillations at higher
frequency . This expression gives excellent co-relation with experimental results which was a
milestone. At very low frequencies this expression reduces to the Rayleigh Jeans expression.

Thus, Max Planck had unknowingly laid the foundation for quantization of energy states of a
system though not in the currently understood terminologies.

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Atomic Spectra

Atoms of different elements have distinct spectra Photo electric effect – an experiment in which radiation
(electromagnetic waves) interact with matter where
and therefore atomic spectroscopy allows for the emission of electron from the metal when radiation of
identification and quantization of a sample's wavelengths lesser than a cutoff wavelength. The
electron emission was instantaneous and the kinetic
elemental composition. energy of the emitted electrons depended only on the
wavelength of the incident radiation and not on the
Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff discovered intensity.
new elements by observing their emission
These results could not be explained on the basis of the
spectra. Atomic absorption lines are observed in classical EM wave theory. The classical theory
the solar spectrum and referred to as Fraunhofer suggests that electrons accumulate of energy from the
lines after their discoverer. The existence of incident waves on continuous irradiation and when the
energy of the electrons is more than the work function
discrete line emission spectra or the absence of of the material it is emitted from the metal after a
discrete lines in an absorption spectrum puzzled delayed time. According to the classical theory the
kinetic energy of the electrons emitted should be
scientists since the atomic model had not evolved dependent on the intensity of the radiation and
at the time of these observations. independent of the wavelength. All these explanations
were in contradiction to the experimental results.
Classical physics tried to model the emission from
Einstein explained the effect considering light to
atoms as that due to the orbiting electron, since behave as particles called Photons and the interaction
an accelerated charge should emit of the photons with the electrons in the metal can result
electromagnetic radiation --- light. However in transfer of energy to the electron. If the energy
according to this model, the electron should be gained by the electron is greater than the work function
continually losing energy and fall into the atom in of the metal, then the electron can be emitted and the
kinetic energy of the photo electron would depend on
an extremely small time interval. the energy of the incident photon. This was a classic
example of radiation displaying a particle nature when
(The explanation of the line spectrum of atoms in the interaction is at atomic / sub atomic particles.
terms of transition between energy states of an
atom evolved after the quantum model of the
atom evolved.)

Dual nature of radiation

Radiation is part of the electromagnetic spectrum and can be described as electromagnetic waves.
Electromagnetic waves are construed as mutually perpendicular sinusoidal electric and magnetic
fields and perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the waves. The classical concept
assumed that the energy content of the wave is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the
waves. The wavelength (and hence the frequency) are not of any consequence with regard to the
energy of the wave. Conventional wave theory of radiation explains the phenomena of reflection,
refraction, interference, diffraction and polarization of light. Interference and diffraction though
stand out as an exclusive wave property.

The Photo electric effect was explained by Einstein as a particle - particle interaction. This paved
the wave for the concept of the dual nature of radiations. The particle nature of radiations could be
evident when radiation interacted with matter at the atomic / subatomic level.

Compton effect :

Arthur H Compton while studying the scattering of X rays

by materials observed that in addition to the emission of an
electron, the scattered beam has a different wavelength as
compared to the incident wavelength.

The scattering of X rays (the high energy end of the

electromagnetic spectrum) if treated classically would not
explain the origin of X rays of higher wavelength.

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Compton treated the problem as a particle - particle collision in which photons of momentum
are scattered with an electron at rest. This results in a transfer of momentum and energy
to the electron which is scattered. The photon loses energy and momentum which results in a gain
in momentum and energy for the electrons. The scattered X-ray photon has reduced energy which
results in an increase in the wavelength.

The analysis of the conservation of energy and momentum conservation before and after the
collision (taking into consideration the relativistic effects for the energy and momentum of the
electron) gives the increase in the wavelength of the scattered photon.

If is the wavelength of the incident X-ray photon, the momentum of the photon is and the
energy of the photon is . Since the electron is at rest
the initial momentum of the electron is zero and the energy Relativistic concepts of energy and
of the electron is the rest mass energy moc2. momentum of particles
Einstein’s concepts of relativistic
After the collision, the wavelength of the scattered X ray is particles (particles moving with
and the momentum . The energy of the scattered speeds comparable to the speed of
light) are
X ray is .  A particle it at rest it has a rest
2
mass energy given by E= moc .
The momentum of the scattered electron is and the  A particle moving with a velocity
v will have a mass given by
energy is
The energy conservation equation is
 If p is the momentum of the
particle then the kinetic energy
of the particle is given by pc
From this expression we get  The total energy of the particle
…(i) is given by

Since the X ray and the electron are scattered in different

directions, the momentum conservation equation has to be treated as conservation of the
momentum of the particles before and after collisions in the direction of incidence and in a
perpendicular direction.
Momentum conservation along the incident direction is .
Hence ..(ii)
Momentum conservation in a perpendicular direction is
Or …(iii)
Squaring and adding equation (ii) and (iii) we
…(iv)
Comparing equations (i) and (iv) we obtain which can be
simplified to

The change is the wavelength is known as the Compton Shift.

It is obvious that the Compton shift is

 independent of the incident wavelength of X rays

 independent of the type of the scattering material
 depends only on the angle of scattering of the X rays

The term is termed as the Compton wavelength and is a constant =2.42 x 10-12 m.

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At θ=0o we notice there is no shift in the wavelength or there is

no interaction of the X rays with the electrons.

At θ=90o the shift

At θ=180o the collision is a head on collision and the shift in the

wavelength is maximum . Thus we conclude that
maximum momentum and hence energy transfer happens
when the incident X ray is back scattered.

At other angles the predicted shift were in agreement with the

experimental observations.

Thus, the Compton Effect was another instance of the particle

nature of radiation.

The two experiments of interaction of radiation with matter at sub atomic levels (Photo electric
effect and the Compton effect) led to the conclusion that radiation exhibit a dual nature - show the
normal wave characteristics and a particle at times of interaction of radiation with matter.

Dual nature of matter

Louis de Broglie (analyzing the results of the dual nature of radiation) put forward the hypothesis
that matter (form of energy) when in motion can display wave characteristics and the wavelength
associated with the moving particle where mv is the momentum of the particle.

Common heavier particles have a wavelength that is beyond the measurement capabilities with the
best of techniques available. For example, the wavelength of a carbon atom moving with a
velocity of 100m per second could possess a wavelength of the order of 10-10m. This has to be
measured with an experiment characteristic of waves such as diffraction or interference.

The wavelength of the associated waves has to be in the measurable range of an interference or
diffraction experiment to prove the existence of matter waves.

This concept was experimentally verified by Davisson and Germer who observed unusual
scattering characteristics for electrons scattered by a Ni crystal when the accelerating potential of
the electrons was 54V and angle of scattering 50o.

The de Broglie wavelength of electrons accelerated by 54V can be estimated to be 1.67 x 10 -10m.
If the electron wave possesses such a wavelength, it should be possible to diffract the waves with
a known crystal.

If the scattering has to be explained as a diffraction phenomenon (characteristics of waves)

following Bragg’s law, then where d in the interplanar distance of the Ni crystal, the
glancing angle (angle between the incident ray and the surface of the crystal) and is the
wavelength of the “waves”.

This yields a wavelength which is close to the value obtained using de Broglie’s hypothesis (matter
waves). Since diffraction is characteristic of waves, it was concluded that electrons undergo
diffraction under the set experimental conditions.

Thus, it is concluded that matter display dual characteristics at appropriate conditions of

interaction. This concept has been further confirmed by diffraction experiments using heavier
particles such as the slow neutrons from a nuclear reactor.

Hitachi in the 1980s showed the diffraction of electrons when scattered by a thin wire. It was
observed that the electrons scattering patterns are very close to a diffraction pattern produced by
a double slit experiment.

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Young’s double slit experiment with particles

A double slit experiment with particles incident on the slits

one at a time reveal some interesting outcomes. Experiments
show that electrons (or photons) as particles are expected to
arrive at some definite location on a screen, unlike a wave.
But if a second electron (or photons) is incident at the slit, the
second electron reaches a different location, often far outside
any experimental uncertainty. If many electrons (or photons)
are incident on the slit but one at a time then the
measurements will display a statistical distribution of
locations that appears like an interference pattern.

The building up of the diffraction pattern of electrons

scattered from a crystal surface. Each electron arrives
at a definite location, which cannot be precisely
predicted. The overall distribution shown at the bottom
can be predicted as the diffraction of waves having the
de Broglie wavelength of the electrons.

This experiment leads to concept of probabilities that

are inherent in quantum mechanical systems. A
quantum particle exhibits probabilistic behavior when there is no effort to detect the particle.

Wave packets

The concept of matter waves requires a wave like (mathematical) representation of the moving
particle where position and momentum of the particle can be estimated with reasonable accuracy.
Sinusoidal representations result in a gross uncertainty in the position while providing a highly
accurate estimation of the momentum.

The superposition of two waves of very close + =

frequency and propagation constant results in a wave
packet, frequency and propagation
constant . Let y1 be a sinusoidal wave with
angular frequency ω and propagation constant k and y2 be a wave with frequency and
propagation constant k+Δk.

and

The superposition of the two waves gives a resultant

The first part is the original high frequency component and the second term is a low frequency
component. This is the case of an amplitude modulated wave where the amplitude of the high
frequency component is modulated according to the amplitude of the low frequency component.
Since this is the resultant of a group of super imposed waves, it is referred to as a wave packet.

The momentum of the particle could be evaluated with the estimation of the wavelength of the
waves in the wave packet. The position of the particle could be inferred from the region in which
the amplitude (and hence the intensity) of the wave is a maximum.

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This gives a reasonably accurate value of both momentum and position. The momentum is derived
from the wavelength of the high frequency component and the position from the region of
maximum amplitude of the wave packet.

We can define both a phase and group velocity for the wave packet.

The phase velocity of the waves is defined as the velocity of an arbitrary point marked on the wave
(the high frequency component) as the wave propagates and is given be

The velocity of the wave packet (wave group) is defined as the group velocity and given by

Relation between group velocity and particle velocity

Group velocity of waves =

The angular frequency where E is the energy of the wave and hence
The wave vector where p is the momentum and hence
Therefore, the group velocity

Since the group velocity where v is the particle velocity.

Relation between group velocity and phase velocity

The group velocity of the particle is given by

However, .

And hence

In a dispersive medium (where the velocity of the waves depends on the wavelength) the group
velocity is given by the above equation.

When the group velocity of the wave packet is equal to the phase velocity the medium in which the
wave propagate is a non-dispersive medium. In this case or the phase velocity is a
constant with respect to wavelength.

Evaluate the condition under which the group velocity of a wave packet is

i) Half the phase velocity and ii) twice the phase velocity

The group velocity of a wave packet is given by

Case 1.

This on integration yields or

This implies that the phase velocity is proportional to the square root of the wavelength

Case 2.

This on integration yields or

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This implies that the phase velocity is inversely proportional to the wavelength.

Uncertainty principle

Heisenberg’s analysis of the wave packet

revealed the spread in the estimation of the
position and the spread in the propagation
constant of the wave is intrinsically related.
A Fourier transform of the wave functions
gives the distribution of the propagation
constant. In summary he product of the
standard deviations in the estimates of the
position and the propagation constant was
shown to be greater than or at the most equal to .
This then translates to the standard form of the uncertainty principle when the propagation
constant is transformed to the momentum through the relation

The position and momentum of a particle cannot be

determined simultaneously with unlimited precision. If one of
the parameters is determined with high precision then the
other must necessarily be imprecise, such that the product of
The more precisely
the uncertainties is greater than or equal to ie.,
the position is determined, the
less precisely the momentum is
where is the uncertainty in the position and is the known in this instant, and vice
uncertainty in the momentum determined simultaneously. versa.
Heisenberg, uncertainty paper,
The uncertainty relation for energy E and time t for a physical 1927
system can be written as

Where is the uncertainty in the energy E of a system and is the uncertainty in the time in
which this energy is estimated.

In the case of rotational motion, the uncertainty relation between the angular position θ and the
angular momentum L can be written as

where is the uncertainty in the angular position and is the uncertainty in the angular
momentum determined simultaneously.

Heisenberg’s Gamma ray microscope:

Heisenberg proposed the gamma ray microscope (as a thought experiment

to illustrate the uncertainty principle) to locate the position of an electron. To
be able to “observe” the electron, it should be “illuminated” by a radiation
whose wavelength is comparable to the size of the scattering object. Hence
it is evident that one should use rays to observe electrons, which in turn
scatter the radiation onto the objective lens of the microscope. In order that
we “see” the electron, the limit of resolution of the microscope should be
comparable to the position uncertainty .

Thus, we get .

However, when the high energy rays can impart momentum to the electrons (following the
principles of Compton Effect).

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The maximum momentum imparted to the electron can be estimated from the maximum shift in the
scattered photon momentum. If the momentum of the photons entering the microscope at a half
cone angle is then the maximum momentum gained by the electron in the x direction would be

Thus, the minimum momentum of the electron would be uncertain by a factor

Thus the product of the uncertainties conforms to the

uncertainty principle.
This illustrates that in the simultaneous determination of the position and momentum of an electron
results in an inherent uncertainty.
Electron’s existence inside the nucleus
The uncertainty principle can be used to illustrate the impossibilities in physical systems or the
correctness of assumptions. Beta particle emission from radioactive nuclei is one such example.
Experiments show that the beta emission is the emission of an electron with a high energy of about
4MeV by radioactive nuclei. If we assume the electron to be an integral part of the nucleus then
we may be able to estimate the minimum energy of the electron using the uncertainty principle.

If the electron is part of the nuclei, then the position of the electron is uncertain to the extent of the
nuclear diameter. The uncertainty in the position of the electron

The minimum uncertainty in the momentum of the electron then can be estimated as

Hence the minimum momentum of the electron p has to be at least the uncertainty and hence

The kinetic energy of the electron

This implies that the energy of the electron emitted by the radioactive nuclei should be quite high if
electron had to be integral member of the nuclei. Since the energies of the electron emitted by
radioactive nuclei are very less compared to the estimate, we conclude that the electron cannot be
a permanent part of the nuclei, thus illustrating the power of the uncertainty principle.

Wave functions

A moving particle can be represented by a wave packet. The wave packet can be
described by a function which is referred to as the wave function or the
state function.. The function though contains information about the physical state
of the system, has no other physical interpretation. However, since the amplitude
of the wave gives information on the probable position of the particle, can be
termed as the probability amplitude.

The functions should have the following characteristics if it has to be representing a moving
particle.

(1)  must be finite, continuous and single valued in the regions of interest.

Since is a probability amplitude (as discussed in the definition of a wave packet)

it is necessary that the function is finite and highly localized. The value of the function
could change with the position of the particle but has to remain finite and continuous (as is
obvious from the fact it is representing a wave packet). Since the physical parameters of
the system are single valued the wave function has also to be single valued.

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(2) The derivatives of the wave function must be finite, continuous and single valued in the regions
of interest.

Since the wave function is a continuous function, the derivatives of the function with respect
to the variables must exist. For example is the function is a plane wave given by
then the derivative of the function is . It is obvious that the
derivative of the function would inherit the properties of the wave function, and hence it has
to be finite continuous and single valued.

(3) The wave function  must be normalizable. i.e.  

The wave function is a probability amplitude and the intensity of the wave (the
point at which the energy of the wave is likely to be concentrated) is the square of the
probability amplitude. Since the wave function can be a real or imaginary function it is
evident that the square of the wave function . is the complex conjugate of
the wave function. Thus, the product is representative of the intensity of the wave or the
probability of finding the particle at any point in the wave packet and is called the
probability density. Thus, the summation of all the for the extend of the wave
packet should give the total probability of finding the particle. Thus . Since the
wave function is a continuous function it can be written as

Since the wave function is highly localized this implies that the wave function
vanish at large values of x, i.e. .

Hence the integral evaluated over all of space . This is called as the
normalization of the wave function. In effect the amplitude of the wave is normalized to
ensure that the total probability of finding the particle is always equal to one.

The wave function satisfying the above conditions are called as well-behaved functions and can
be used to represent the physical state of a system in quantum mechanics.

Linear superposition of wave functions

The classical Young’s double slit experiment with
light waves demonstrates the diffraction of light.
The experiment conceived photons passing
through two closely space slits diffract and forms
an interference pattern at the screen.

The experiment can be repeated with single

photon emitted one at a time allowed to be incident
on the slit with no particular alignment. The photon
decides to enter either slit 1 or slit 2. The state of
the photon entering slit 1 is described by the wave
function and represents the wavefunction of
the photons passing through slit 2. When slit 2 is
closed and slit 1 is opened all photons preferentially
go thru slit 1 and the intensity pattern of the photons
on the screen will be given by P1.Similarly when slit
1 is closed and slit 2 is opened all photons
preferentially go thru slit 2 and the intensity pattern
of the photons on the screen will be given by P2. However, when both the slits are opened the
intensity pattern do not add up. The resultant is an interference pattern which can be described as
the superposition of the two photon states given by .

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If the photon beam is replaced by an electron bean then it is interesting to note that the electrons
going through the slit behaves as waves and form an interference pattern on the screen.

This clearly demonstrates the wave behavior of electrons. If represents the electrons passing
through slit 1 and represents the electrons passing through slit 2, then the probability densities
.

It is obvious that represents the super imposition of the two states or super
position of the two wave functions. Thus, the probability density of the new states should be given
by

and is not equal to .

Thus, we observe that the superposition of the

two states yield a new state.
Schrödinger's cat: a
In general if and are two wave functions of cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are
a system then the linear superposition of the two placed in a sealed box. If an internal monitor (e.g.
states is also a possible quantum state Geiger counter) detects radioactivity (i.e. a single
atom decaying), the flask is shattered, releasing the
poison, which kills the cat. The Copenhagen
Another interesting observation is that any interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that
attempt to observe the events of which or how after a while, the cat is simultaneously alive and
dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the
many electrons pass through each slit with a
cat either alive or dead not both alive and dead. This
detector, the interference pattern is not observed
poses the question of when exactly quantum
and the intensity of is a algebraic addition of the
superposition ends and reality collapses into one
two intensities from the two slits. Thus, the
possibility or the other.
superposed wave function is non-existent
and the wave function is said to have collapsed.

Thus, quantum systems are not subjected to observations, since the observations interfere with
the quantum behavior of the particles being studied. This is the classic Schrodinger’s cat paradox.

Observables,

The physical parameters associated with the particle such as energy, momentum, kinetic energy,
spin, etc. are observables of the state of a system. Experimental results can give us values of
observables, and multiple measurements on the system at the same state should result in the
same value or average values for the observables, if the state of the system is not modified by the
measurement. Observables have real values and their accurate measurements would be limited
by the principles of uncertainty.

The wave function carries information about the state of the system, or the observables can be
extracted from the wave functions with the help of appropriate operators.

Operators

The wave function describing a system in one dimension can be written as .

This function contains information about the observables of the system. The values of the
observables can be inferred using a mathematical operator operating on the wave function.

Differentiating with respect to position yields

Or the operation yields the momentum of the system.

is the momentum operator.

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Differentiating the above yields

Rearranging the terms and dividing by 2m we get

Thus, the operation } on yields the kinetic energy.

is the kinetic energy operator

Differentiating with respect to time yields

Or the operation yields the total energy of the system

is the total energy operator.

The position operator is equivalent to multiplying the wave function by x itself .

The potential energy operator is not explicitly defined as the potential can be inferred if the total
energy and the kinetic energy of the system is known.

Expectation values:

Quantum mechanics deals with probabilities and hence predicts only the most probable values of
the observables of a physical system which are called the expectation values. These expectation
values could be the average of repeated measurements on the system. The method of evaluating
the expectation values is outlined as below.

Let be an operator that gives the value of the momentum p when it operates on the wave
function

The operation where p is the value of the observable extracted from .

The many values of p extracted from the wave function can be averaged over the extend of the
wave packet.

The same can be obtained by integrating the expression over the range and dividing it by
the total probability

where is the most probable value of the momentum.

Thus the expectation value of the momentum is written as .

If the integral is over all of space then the integrals could be evaluated between limits of . In
this case it is observed that the denominator would be the total probability and can be written as 1.
However, it is customary to write the expectation values in the standard form.

In the general case for an operator when and hence the expectation value of the parameter
can be written as .

Schrodinger’s Wave equation

The moving particle is described by a wave function and there is a need to have a wave equation
which can describe this moving particle. Schrodinger’s approach to describe the motion in terms of
a differential equation is one of the most popular methods. (Dirac’s operator mechanics with vector
spaces is another method of describing the moving particle and is a computational friendly
method.)

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The one dimensional time dependent Schrodinger’s wave equation

The most general method of describing a system involves evaluating the system in terms of the
state variables of position and time.
The total energy of a system is equal to the sum of kinetic energy and potential energy (which are
observables of the system)
The energy expression can be written as E = KE + V
Multiplying throughout with the wave function we get
……… (1)
This equation can be written in terms of the corresponding operators as

which is an eigen value equation for the total energy of the system.

The total energy operator is , the kinetic energy operator is }.

Replacing the total energy and the kinetic energy terms with the respective operators we can
rewrite the expression (1) as

or
….(2)
which is the Schrödinger’s time dependent
wave function since is a function of
both position and time.
The solution of the differential equation
yields the wave function which is the state
function of the system.
The one dimensional time independent Schrodinger’s wave equation
Generally any system in the steady state is time invariant and hence the wave function could be
independent of time. In such a case we can write the wave function can be written as the product
of two functions one that is position dependent and the other time dependent.

Ie.,

where is the position dependent part and is the time dependent

part.
Substituting in equation (2) we get

The total energy E of the steady state system being a constant, the total energy operator can be
replaced by the value E with no loss of sense.

The above equation can be written as

We recognize that the product of two functions is zero and since

………………….(3)

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This is the Schrödinger’s time independent one dimensional wave equation. The solutions of the
Schrodinger’s wave equation yield the wave function which describes the physical state of
the system.
The solution so obtained has to be checked for continuities at any boundaries and normalized to
get the exact wave function of the system.
In general the Hamiltonian form of this equation is written as

Where the Hamiltonian operator –

[Three dimensional Schrodinger’s wave equation.

The Schrodinger’s wave equation for a 3D can be evolved by looking at the problem as three one
dimensional problem in the independent variables x,y and z. The wave function of such a system
can be written as
where are the three mutually independent
wave functions of the particles in the orthogonal co-ordinate system.
The derivatives of the wave function can be written as partial derivatives of the wave function.
The SWE then can be written as

which can be simplified as

Where is the Laplacian operator defined as

[Linear superposition of wave functions from SWE.

The wave function which is the solution of the differential equation

is a state function. Since a system could have multiple states the solution of the wave
equation can give us multiple . If represents a state 1 andf
represents a state 2 of the system then it can be seen that a linear combination of and
is also a solution of the SWE. Thus +m will also be a solution of
the SWE. It is obvious that the superposition of two waves is a wave packet and can represent the
state of a system.
It is also evident that the probability densities however do not add to give the probability density of
the new state and has to be estimated from the new wave function ]

Template for solving problems in quantum mechanics using the Schrödinger’s wave
equation

The Schrodinger’s wave equation can be applied to any physical system and the solution of the
wave equation yields the wave function of the system. The wave function is probability amplitude
and contains information about the physical state (observables of the system). The wave function
has to be a well behaved wave function to represent a moving particle.

The template for solving the Schrodinger’s wave equation is:

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1. Define / set up the physical system (define particle nature, boundaries of potential, total
energy of the particle etc)
2. Write the Schrodinger’s wave equation and apply the known conditions
3. Obtain the general form of the wave function
4. Check / verify the wave function for it’s characteristics
 finiteness, discreteness and continuity of ,
 normalization of the wave functions
5. Interpret the solution and get the implications on the quantum system.

Problem no 1. Free Particle solution

A particle is said to be a free particle when it experiences no external forces.

Thus the force given by . This implies that either V is zero or V is a constant.

The simplest case then could be when the particle is moving in a region of zero potential i.e., V=0.

The Schrödinger’s time independent one dimensional wave equation for the system simplifies to

or

where is the propagation constant.

The solution of this differential equation is where A and B are constants

which can be real or imaginary.

As a general concept the first part describes a forward moving wave packet (in increasing x
direction) and the second part describes a backward moving wave packet (decreasing x direction)

The energy of the particle is given by .

Since the free particle is moving in a zero potential region and there is no restriction on wave
number or the energy of the particle, we conclude that the total energy of the particle is kinetic in
nature with no implications of quantization.

This could the quantum description of a classical free particle.

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Some typical solved Numericals

1. Estimate the Compton shift for X rays scattered at 95o with respect to the incident direction. If the
momentum of the scattered X rays is 4.5x10 -24 kg m s-1 estimate the wavelength of the incident X
Rays.

The Compton shift is given by .

At 95o the shift is

Wavelength of the scattered X ray is

Wavelength of the incident X ray is

2. In a Compton scattering of electrons with X rays discuss the condition under which the energy gained
by the electron is maximum. If the wavelength of the incident X ray is 0.1nm calculate the maximum
energy gained by the electron.
In Compton effect the maximum shift in the wavelength of the scattered X ray is when the angle of
scattering is 180o. At this angle there is a head on collision with the electron and the electron
moves along the incident direction. The momentum and hence the energy transfer are maximum
under this condition.
The maximum momentum transfer is the maximum momentum loss of the X ray
= = 3.07 x10-25 Kg m s-1.
The maximum energy transfer is the maximum energy loss of the X ray
= = 575.16eV
3. Estimate the energy of a non-relativistic electron if it to confined in a region of width 10-14 m and
calculate the de Broglie wavelength of the electron with this energy. Comment on the results
obtained.

The position of the electron is uncertain to the extent of 10-14 m.

The minimum uncertainty in the momentum =p

The kinetic energy of the electron

.
The de Broglie wavelength > the width of the region, which implies the electron cannot be confined
in this interval.
4. Find the spread in the wavelength of a photon whose lifetime in the excited state is uncertain to 10-
10
s if the wavelength of emission is 541nm.

The uncertainty relation for energy E and time t for a physical system can be written as
where is the uncertainty in the energy E of a system and is the uncertainty in
the time in which this energy is estimated.

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Numericals

1. The energy lost by an incident X ray photon in a Compton Effect is 1.064 x J. If the
wavelength of the incident wavelength is 1.5 x find the angle of the scattered X ray
photon.
2. The shift in the wavelength of a X ray scattered by an electron is 2.42pm. Find the direction
and magnitude of the momentum of the scattered electron.
3. Find the de Broglie wavelength of electrons moving with a speed of 107 m/s (Ans 7.28 x 10-11
m)

4. Compare the momenta and energy of an electron and photon whose de Broglie wavelength
is 650nm (Ans Ratio of momenta =1; ratio of energy of electron to energy of photon =
)

5. Calculate the de Broglie wavelength of electrons and protons if their kinetic energies are
i) 1% and ii) 5% of their rest mass energies. (Ans Rest mass energy of electron = 8.19x 10-14 J;
-10
rest mass energy of protons = 1.503 x 10 J. The de Broglie wavelength Electron 1%
Electron 5% Proton 1% Proton 5%
)

6. An electron and a photon have a wavelength of 2.0 A. Calculate their momenta and total
energies.
7. What is the wavelength of an hydrogen atom moving with a mean velocity corresponding to
the average kinetic energy of hydrogen atoms under thermal equilibrium at 293K?

8. The frequency of Surface tension waves in shallow water is given by ν= (2πT/ρλ3)½, where
T is the surface tension, ρ is the density of the medium and λ the wavelength of the waves.
Find the group velocity of the waves.
9. The relation between the wavelength λ and frequency ν of electromagnetic waves in a
wave guide is given by λ=c/√(ν2 - νo2). Find the group velocity of the waves.
10. The speed of an electron is measured to be 1 km/s with an accuracy of 0.005%. Estimate
the uncertainty in the position of the particle.
11. The spectral line of Hg green is 546.1 nm has a width of 10-5 nm. Evaluate the minimum
time spent by the electrons in the upper state before de excitation to the lower state .
(Ans: )
12. The uncertainty in the location of a particle is equal to its de Broglie wavelength. Show that
the corresponding uncertainty in its velocity is approx. one tenth of its velocity. (Ans:
Hence )

13. Determine the maximum wavelength shift in the Compton scattering of photons from
protons.
(Ans = 2.64×10−5 Å)

14. Show that for a free particle the uncertainty relation can also be written as
where Δx is the uncertainty in location of the wave and Δλ the simultaneous uncertainty
in wavelength.

15. Discuss the following functions to be taken as acceptable wave functions:

i: ii: iii: iv:

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16. A wave function is given by in the region . Find the normalization

constant N.
17. Find the expectation values of position and momentum for the wave function defined by
in the region

18. Find the normalisation constant B for the wave function (

Ans

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

Unit II – Quantum Mechanics of simple systems

Topics covered under this unit

1. Solutions of the wave equation to interpret a moving particle encountering a potential step

a. Energy of the particle greater than the potential step

b. Energy of the particle less than the potential step

2. Solutions of the wave equation to interpret a moving particle encounter a potential barrier

a. Barrier tunneling
b. Radioactive alpha decay as a case of barrier tunneling

3. Solutions of the wave equation to interpret a moving particle confined to a region with infinite
potentials at the boundaries
a. One dimensional potential well
b. Two dimensional potential well
c. Three dimensional potential well

4. Qualitative discussions of the solutions of the wave equation to describe a moving particle
confined to a region with finite potentials at the boundaries

5. Solutions of the wave equation to interpret a system if two particles connected with a bond as a
harmonic oscillator

6. Discussions of the wave functions of a hydrogen atom

7. Concept of Fermions, Fermi Dirac Statistics

8. Concept of Density of States

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Problem no. 2 - Potential Steps

The behavior of a moving particle when it encounters a potential field along its path is the first step in
solving problems in Quantum Mechanics. In reality the potential field varies inversely as the distance
1
from the source of the potential (i.𝑒. , 𝑉 ∝ ). However, the solution of the Schrödinger’s wave equation
𝑟
becomes difficult if the actual potential variations are considered. It is therefore necessary and
sufficient if the potentials are approximated to simpler (solvable) systems.

This leads to the concept of potential steps where the potential energy vs.
distance graphs show a discrete jump from a zero value to a constant
value V0. However the behavior of the wave function (representing the
particle) can have different responses depending on the energy of the
particle as compared to the energy of the potential step. The energy of the
particle can be greater or less than the energy of the potential step.

The problem can be divided as a two region problem, region I in which the
potential V=0 and the region II in which the potential V= V0.
𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚
The Schrödinger’s wave equation 𝜕𝑥 2
+ ℏ2
(𝐸 − 𝑉)𝜓 = 0

𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚
for the region I with V=0 this becomes 𝜕𝑥 2
+ ℏ2
𝐸𝜓 =0

The solution of the equation in region I is given by

𝜓1 = 𝐴𝑒 𝑖𝑘1 𝑥 + 𝐵𝑒 −𝑖𝑘1 𝑥

2𝑚𝐸 ℎ
where 𝑘1 = √ ℏ2
and the debroglie wavelength 𝜆1 =
√2𝑚𝐸

The component with the positive exponent represents the oncoming wave and the negative exponent
represents the reflected wave at the boundary x=0

In region II the nature of the wave function will depend on the energy E of the particle in comparison
to the energy of the potential step.

Case I . If the energy E of the particle is greater than the energy of the potential (E>Vo) step then the
Schrödinger’s wave equation for the region II can be written as
𝝏𝟐 𝝍𝑰𝑰 𝟐𝒎
+ (𝑬 − 𝑽𝒐 )𝝍𝑰𝑰 = 𝟎
𝝏𝒙𝟐 ℏ𝟐

𝟐𝒎(𝑬−𝑽𝒐 )
with the solution being 𝜓𝐼𝐼 = 𝐶𝑒 −𝑖𝑘𝐼𝐼𝑥 + 𝐷𝑒 𝑖𝑘𝐼𝐼𝑥 where 𝒌𝑰𝑰 = √ ℏ𝟐
. The nature of the wave
function remains the cyclic and the particle propagates in region II
with reduced kinetic energy (E-Vo.). The first term of the wave
function is non existing since there cannot be a reflection after x>0
as there is no disruption in the potential.

The momentum in the second region is given by

ℏ𝒌𝑰𝑰 = √𝟐𝒎(𝑬 − 𝑽𝒐 ) and the corresponding debroglie

𝒉
wavelength 𝝀𝑰𝑰 = which is longer than the debroglie
√𝟐𝒎(𝑬−𝑽𝒐 )
wavelength in region I.

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In this case the constants B and D can be found in terms of A by applying the boundary condition that
the wave function and its derivatives are finite and continuous at x = 0.

𝒂𝒕 𝒙 = 𝟎 𝝍𝑰(𝒙=𝟎) = 𝝍𝑰𝑰(𝒙=𝟎) 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝑨 + 𝑩 = 𝑫

𝒂𝒕 𝒙 = 𝟎 𝒅𝝍𝑰(𝒙=𝟎) = 𝒅𝝍𝑰𝑰(𝒙=𝟎) 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 (𝑨 − 𝑩)𝒌𝑰 = 𝑫𝒌𝑰𝑰

𝒌𝑰
Solving the simultaneous equations we get 𝑫 = 𝟐𝑨 ∗ (𝒌 )
𝑰 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝑰𝑰

𝑰 𝒌 𝒌 −𝒌
𝑫 = 𝟐𝑨 ∗ (𝒌 +𝒌 ) and 𝑩 = 𝑨 ∗ ( 𝒌𝑰 +𝒌 𝑰𝑰 )
𝑰 𝑰𝑰 𝑰 𝑰𝑰

It is seen that the coefficient B of the reflected component is non zero implying that there is a small
probability of reflection at x=0 even if the energy of the particle is greater than the potential step Vo.

The flux of incident particles is given by 𝝍𝟏 ∗ 𝝍𝟏 × 𝒗𝟏 = 𝑨∗ 𝑨 𝒗𝟏

𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒙 𝑩∗ 𝑩 𝒗𝟏 𝒌 −𝒌 2
The reflection coefficient can be written as 𝑹 = 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒙
= 𝑨∗ 𝑨 𝒗𝟏
= ( 𝒌𝑰 +𝒌 𝑰𝑰)
𝑰 𝑰𝑰

𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒙 𝑫∗ 𝑫 𝒗𝑰𝑰

and the transmission coefficient 𝑻 = = where 𝒗𝑰 and 𝒗𝑰𝑰 are the velocities of
𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒙 𝑨∗ 𝑨 𝒗𝑰
the particles in the two regions.

𝟒𝒌𝑰 .𝒌𝑰𝑰 𝟒√𝑬.(𝑬−𝑽𝒐)

Thus, the transmission co-efficient T = ( ) = 𝟐
𝒌𝑰 +𝒌𝑰𝑰 (√𝑬+√𝑬−𝑽𝒐 )

It is observed that R+T = 1, i.e. the flux incident has to be partially reflected and partially transmitted.

R and T are the relative probabilities of reflection and transmission at the potential step.

Case II Energy of the particle < Vo.

In region I the behavior of the particle is the same at the previous case (since V=0) and the wave
function will be
𝜓1 = 𝐴𝑒 𝑖𝑘1 𝑥 + 𝐵𝑒 −𝑖𝑘1 𝑥

If the energy E of the particle is lesser than the energy of the potential step (E < Vo ), then the
Schrödinger’s wave equation for the region II can be written as
𝝏𝟐 𝝍𝟐 𝟐𝒎
− (𝑽𝒐 − 𝑬)𝝍𝟐 = 𝟎
𝝏𝒙𝟐 ℏ𝟐

𝟐𝒎(𝑽𝒐 −𝑬)
with the solution being 𝝍𝟐 = 𝑭𝒆−𝜶𝒙 + 𝐺𝒆𝜶𝒙 where 𝜶 = √ ℏ𝟐

The second part of the wave function 𝐺𝒆𝜶𝒙 , makes 𝝍𝟐 infinite for large values
of x and hence cannot be part of the wave function. Setting the coefficient G to
be zero the wave function reduces to

𝝍𝟐 = 𝑭𝒆−𝜶𝒙

The wave function has a finite value and decays exponentially in region II.
Thus there exists a finite probability for the particle to be found in region II

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( 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝝍𝟐 ∗ 𝝍𝟐 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑛 𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜) which is unlike the classical solution.

1
(In an exponential decay the wave function is significant till it decays to 𝑒 of the value at x=0. At x=0
the value of the function 𝝍𝟐 = 𝑭. The changes in this function 𝝍𝟐 = 𝑭𝒆−𝜶𝒙 become insignificant at
some ∆𝒙.
𝟏
The function evaluated at ∆𝒙 gives 𝝍𝟐 (∆𝒙) = 𝑭𝒆−𝜶∆𝒙 = 𝑭 ∗ 𝒆 = 𝑭 ∗ 𝒆−𝟏.

𝟏 ℏ
This implies 𝜶 ∗ ∆𝒙 = 𝟏 or ∆𝒙 = 𝜶 = ).
√𝟐𝒎(𝑽𝒐 −𝑬)

ℏ
The wave function becomes insignificant at a distance ∆𝒙 = which is the penetration depth
√𝟐𝒎(𝑽𝒐 −𝑬)
in region II. The penetration depth increases as the energy of the particle increases.

In the second region the kinetic energy of the particle is negative which implies that the particle
cannot physically exist in the second region.

We conclude that when a particle (or beam of particles with identical E) is incident on a potential step,
there is a quantum mechanical effect which -

• the particle can be reflected back even if the energy of the particle E > Vo.
• the particle can have a small but finite probability of being in the second region even if E<Vo.

Problem no. 3 - Potential Barrier

The potential barrier is a region in space where the potential is a constant Vo for all 0<x<L and V=0
for the all x<0 and x>L

A particle of mass m and energy E < Vo, incident on the potential barrier is represented by a forward
moving wave. Since E <Vo classically we expect the particle to be reflected back at the potential
barrier and there is no probability of finding the particle in the region beyond the barrier.
𝝏𝟐 𝝍𝑰 𝟐𝒎
In region I with V=0 the Schrödinger’s wave equation becomes 𝝏𝒙𝟐
+ ℏ𝟐
𝑬𝝍𝑰 =𝟎 (1)

The solution of the equation in region I is given by

𝝍𝑰 = 𝑨𝒆𝒊𝒌𝟏𝒙 + 𝑩𝒆−𝒊𝒌𝟏𝒙 (2)

2𝑚𝐸 ℎ
where 𝑘𝐼 = √ ℏ2
and the debroglie wavelength 𝜆𝐼 =
√2𝑚𝐸

The first term in equation 2 represents the incident wave and the second
term represents the reflected component.

In region II since E<VO, the Schrödinger’s wave equation for the region
II can be written as
𝝏𝟐 𝝍𝑰𝑰 𝟐𝒎
− (𝑽𝒐 − 𝑬)𝝍𝑰𝑰 = 𝟎
𝝏𝒙𝟐 ℏ𝟐
(3)

𝟐𝒎(𝑽𝒐 −𝑬)
with the solution being 𝝍𝑰𝑰 = 𝑫𝒆−𝜶𝒙 where 𝜶 = √ ℏ𝟐
(4)

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In region II the nature of the wave function changes to an exponentially decaying function. The
ℏ
penetration depth is given by ∆𝑥 = (5)
√2𝑚(𝑉𝑜 −𝐸)

And in region III, the potential being 0, the wave equation is

𝜕2 𝝍𝑰𝑰𝑰 2𝑚
𝜕𝑥 2
+ ℏ2
𝐸𝝍𝑰𝑰𝑰 =0

and the wave function is given by 𝝍𝑰𝑰𝑰 = 𝑮𝒆𝒊𝒌𝑰𝑰𝑰 𝒙 (6)

𝟐𝒎𝑬 𝒉
where 𝒌𝑰𝑰𝑰 = √ and the debroglie wavelength 𝝀𝑰𝑰𝑰 =
ℏ𝟐 √𝟐𝒎𝑬

The amplitude of the reflected and transmitted waves can be evaluated in terms of the incident
amplitude by applying the boundary conditions

𝜓𝐼 = 𝝍𝑰𝑰 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝝍𝑰𝑰 = 𝝍𝑰𝑰𝑰 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 𝐿

𝑑𝜓𝐼 𝑑𝝍𝑰𝑰 𝑑𝝍𝑰𝑰 𝑑𝝍𝑰𝑰𝑰
and 𝑑𝑥
= 𝑑𝑥
𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑥
= 𝑑𝑥
𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 𝐿

The transmission coefficient which gives the probability of the particles being transferred to the third
𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒙 𝑮∗ 𝑮 𝒗
region can be estimated as 𝑻 = 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒙 = 𝑨∗ 𝑨 𝒗𝟑
𝟏

where v1 and v3 are the velocities of the particle in region I and III. Since the energy of the particle is
the same in the two regions the velocities are also same and

the transmission coefficient can be evaluated approximately as

𝑮∗ 𝑮 𝑬 𝑬
𝑻 = 𝑨∗ 𝑨 ≈ 𝟏𝟔 𝑽 [𝟏 − 𝑽 ] 𝒆−𝟐𝜶𝑳 ≅ 𝒆−𝟐𝜶𝑳
𝒐 𝒐

Thus the probability of transmission is more if either 𝜶 or a is small. Smaller 𝜶 implies smaller (𝑉𝑜 −
𝐸). Thus particles with higher energy have higher transmission probability through the barrier.

If the width of the barrier L is less than the penetration depth ∆𝒙 then there is a finite probability
that the particle is transmitted across the barrier.

This process of transmission through a potential barrier even when the energy of the particle is lesser
than the barrier potential is known as barrier tunneling or the quantum mechanical tunneling.

It is also noted that for all values of E, there is always a reflected component which is given by R = 1
– T which is higher than the transmitted coefficient.

[The particle in the second region has a negative Kinetic energy and this is not a physical reality.
However, the particle can exchange energies with the field (potential) without violating the uncertainty
ℎ ℎ
principle ∆𝐸. ∆𝑡 = 4𝜋. Thus the energy exchange has to happen in a time interval of ∆𝑡 = 4𝜋∆𝐸. This
gives a time interval which is extremely small of the order of femto seconds. Thus, the particle has to
cross the barrier almost instantaneously]

Radioactive alpha decay as a case of barrier tunneling

Emission of alpha particles (Helium nuclei) in the decay of radioactive elements can be example of
tunneling.

The positive charge on the nucleus creates a nonlinear potential barrier around the nucleus. This
potential barrier is estimated to be as high as 20MeV at the surface.

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In the radioactive α decay of the nucleus, two protons and two

neutrons are emitted as a single entity (a doubly charged He
nucleus). The process of radioactive decay of α particles with
low energies compared to the barrier potential could be
explained as a case of barrier tunneling.

The potential which varies inversely as the distance from the

surface of the nucleus can be approximated to a triangular
potential. This can then be modeled as a series of rectangular
potentials of thin slices of thickness ∆𝑟. The potential barrier for
each of these slices decrease by a small ∆𝑉, which gives 𝜶𝒏 =
𝟐𝒎(𝑽𝒏 −𝑬)
√
ℏ𝟐

The transmission coefficients for each of the slice of potential

barrier can be evaluated with 𝑻𝒏 = 𝒆−𝟐𝜶𝒏 ∆𝒓 and the total
transmission probability is the product of all these individual
transmission probabilities. This gives a reasonable
estimate of the tunneling probabilities of alpha particles.
Tunneling rate is very sensitive to small changes in energy and
size of the nucleus and account for the wide range of decay times
to different radioactive nuclei.
Taking the alpha particles to be in a state of constant motion with a very high kinetic energy, the
frequency of approach to the nuclear surface can be estimated to be the diameter of the nucleus
divided by the velocity of the particles. This frequency when multiplied by the transmission co-efficient
gives us the probability that an alpha particle is emitted out of the nucleus. The inverse of this
probability is then the mean lifetime for alpha decay of the radioactive nucleus.

Problem no. 4 - Particle in a Box with infinite potentials at the walls

A particle with mass m and energy E is confined in a one dimensional box with infinite potential at the
𝑎 𝑎
boundaries. Defining the boundaries to be 𝑥 = − 2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑥 = + 2 where the potential tends to infinity.
𝑎 𝑎
The particle is confined to the region − < 𝑥 < + and cannot be found in regions outside the
2 2
𝑎 𝑎 𝑎 𝑎
boundaries 𝑥 < −2 and 𝑥 > 2
. The potential inside the region − 2 < 𝑥 < + 2 is V=0.
𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚
The Schrödinger’s wave equation 𝜕𝑥 2
+ ℏ2
(𝐸 − 𝑉)𝜓 = 0
in the region within the well V=0 this becomes
𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚
𝜕𝑥 2
+ ℏ2
𝐸𝜓 =0

𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚𝐸
𝜕𝑥 2
+ 𝑘 2 𝜓 = 0 where 𝑘 = √ ℏ2
𝑎 𝑎
The solution of the equation in region − 2 < 𝑥 < 2 is given by

𝝍(𝒙) = 𝑨𝒔𝒊𝒏(𝒌𝒙) + 𝑩𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝒌𝒙)

𝒂 𝒂
Applying the boundary condition that 𝝍 = 𝟎 𝒂𝒕 𝒙 = − 𝟐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒙 = 𝟐
𝑎 𝑎 𝑎 𝑎
At 𝑥 = − 𝜓 (𝑥 = − ) = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛 (−𝑘 ) + 𝐵𝑐𝑜𝑠 (𝑘 ) = 0 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠
2 2 2 2
𝑎 𝑎
−𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝑘 2 ) + 𝐵𝑐𝑜𝑠 (𝑘 2 ) = 0 [1]

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𝑎 𝑎 𝑎 𝑎
At 𝑥 = 2 𝜓 (𝑥 = 2 ) = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝑘 2 ) + 𝐵𝑐𝑜𝑠 (𝑘 2 ) = 0 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠
𝑎 𝑎
𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝑘 2 ) + 𝐵𝑐𝑜𝑠 (𝑘 2 ) = 0 [2]

The two conditions imply that (since sine and cosine functions cannot be zero at the same time) if
𝑎 𝑎
𝑨 = 𝟎 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑩 ≠ 𝟎 and 𝒊𝒇 𝑨 ≠ 𝟎 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑩 = 𝟎 since when 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝑘 2 ) = 0, 𝑐𝑜𝑠 (𝑘 2 ) ≠ 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎.

Taking the first condition that 𝐴 = 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵 ≠ 0 implies that when

𝒂 𝒂 𝝅 𝝅 𝝅
𝒄𝒐𝒔 (𝒌 𝟐) = 𝟎, 𝒌 𝟐 = (𝟐𝑵 − 𝟏) 𝟐 𝒐𝒓 𝒌 = (𝟐𝑵 − 𝟏) 𝒂 n odd multiple of 𝒂
)

The second condition 𝐵 = 0 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐴 ≠ 0 which implies that

𝒂 𝒂 𝝅 𝝅
𝒔𝒊𝒏 (𝒌 𝟐) = 𝟎 𝒐𝒓 𝒌 𝟐 = 𝑵𝝅 𝒐𝒓 𝒌 = 𝟐𝑵 𝒂 (an even multiple of 𝒂
)

The above two conditions can be combined and generalized to give the allowed values of the
propagation constant (wave number)
𝒏𝝅
𝒌= 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐧 = 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑 ….
𝒂
The wave function then reduces to
𝝍(𝒙) = 𝑨 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝒌𝒙) 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏 𝒐𝒅𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅
𝝍(𝒙) = 𝑨𝒔𝒊𝒏(𝒌𝒙) 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏
𝒉𝟐 𝒏𝟐
The allowed values of k give the allowed states with energy 𝑬𝒏 =
𝟖𝒎𝒂𝟐

The wave functions can be normalized for the individual states to give the constants A and B.
The constant A can be evaluated by normalizing the wave function ie., integrating the function
𝑎 𝑎
between limits of − 𝑎𝑛𝑑
2 2
∫ 𝜓 ∗ 𝜓𝑑𝑥 = 1
𝑎⁄ 𝑎
2 𝑛𝜋 2 𝐴2 ⁄2 2𝑛𝜋
∫ [𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛 ( 𝑥)] 𝑑𝑥 = ∫ [1 − cos ( 𝑥)] 𝑑𝑥
−𝑎⁄2 𝑎 2 −𝑎⁄ 𝑎
2
𝑎⁄
𝐴2 𝐿 2𝑛𝜋 2 𝐴2
This on integration gives [𝑥 − sin ( 𝑥)] −𝑎⁄
= [𝑎 − 0] = 1
2 2𝑛𝜋 𝑎 2
2

2
This gives a value of 𝐴 = √𝑎

The exact form of the wave function becomes

𝟐 𝒏𝝅
𝝍𝒏 (𝒙) = √𝒂 𝐜𝐨𝐬 ( 𝒂 𝒙) 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏 𝒐𝒅𝒅 (even parity)

𝟐 𝒏𝝅
𝝍𝒏 (𝒙) = √𝒂 𝐬𝐢𝐧 ( 𝒂 𝒙) 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 (odd parity)

[Parity of a function is determined by changing the sign of the variable. If the function remains
unchanged then it is defined as an even parity functions and if the function changes sign then it is an
odd parity function.

𝐼𝑓 𝜓(−𝑥) = 𝜓(𝑥) 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑

𝑖𝑓 𝜓(−𝑥) = −𝜓(𝑥) 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑑𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦. ]

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Eigen functions and Eigen values

Eigen functions are exact wave functions which represent the state of the system completely. Eigen
functions are exact solutions of the Schrodinger’s wave equation.
2 𝑛𝜋
The even parity Eigen function of a particle in a infinite potential well 𝜓𝑛 = √ cos ( 𝑥) and odd
𝑎 𝑎
2 𝑛𝜋𝑥
parity Eigen function of a particle in a infinite potential well 𝜓𝑛 = √𝑎 sin ( 𝑎
)
The first three states correspond to n=1,2 and 3
The Eigen functions are
2 𝜋𝑥
𝜓1 = √𝑎 cos ( 𝑎 )

2 2𝜋𝑥
𝜓2 = √ sin ( )
𝑎 𝑎

2 3𝜋𝑥
𝜓3 = √ cos ( )
𝑎 𝑎

Eigen values of the system are the exact values of the physical parameters of the system obtained
from an Eigen function using operators.
ℎ 2 𝑛2
The Eigen energy values is given function 𝐸𝑛 = 8𝑚𝐿2 where n = 1,2 3…
ℎ2 ℎ 2 22 ℎ 2 32
And the Eigen values are 𝐸1 = 8𝑚𝑎2 𝐸2 = 8𝑚𝑎2 𝐸3 = 8𝑚𝑎2

Probability density 𝜓 ∗ 𝜓 for the first three states is obtained by squaring the corresponding wave
2 𝑛𝜋𝑥 2 𝑛𝜋𝑥
functions 𝜓𝑛 = √𝑎 sin ( 𝑎
) or 𝜓𝑛 = √𝑎 cos ( 𝑎
) . The square of the function is close to a gaussian
shape.

In the first state n=1, the probability of finding the particle is maximum at 𝑥 = 0 and the area under
the curve represents the total probability of finding the particle in the ground state which is 1.00

In the second state n=2, the probability of finding the particle is maximum at 𝑥 = − 𝑎⁄4 and 𝑥 =
+ 𝑎⁄4 .The area under one segment of the curve represents the probability of finding the particle in
the first excited state and is 1⁄2 = 0.5.

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In the third state n=3,the probability of finding the particle is maximum at 𝑥 = − 𝑎⁄3 , 𝑥 = 0 and 𝑥 =
+ 𝑎⁄3 .The area under one segment of the curve represents the probability of finding the particle in
the first excited state and is 1⁄3 = 0.333.

In general, the probability of finding the particle in the nth state, in a segment of length 𝑎⁄𝑛 𝑖𝑠 1⁄𝑛.

The probability of finding the particle between two limits in the well is given be the expression

𝑥 𝑛𝜋 2 𝑥 𝑛𝜋 2
𝑃 = ∫𝑥 2 [𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠 ( 𝑎 𝑥)] 𝑑𝑥 𝑜𝑟 ∫𝑥 2 [𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛 ( 𝑎 𝑥)] 𝑑𝑥 , depending on the whether the state n is odd or
1 1
even. Note that this probability will be less than 1 if the limits are not the boundaries of the well.
𝒉
The Eigen values of the momentum and the 𝒑𝒏 = ℏ𝒌 = 𝒏
𝟐𝒂

Particle in a 2D well of infinite potential at the boundaries

A particle in a two dimensional well has two degrees of freedom and can
move in XY plane. This can be treated as a case of particle confined in
a well with infinite potentials at the boundaries of the x and y directions.
The momentum P of a particle moving in the x y plane can be resolved
into two independent momentum components Px and Py along the x and
y directions.
The problem can be analyzed as two independent problems for the x
and y directions and the solutions would be similar to the one
dimensional infinite potential well problem.
𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚
The Schrodinger’s equation can be written as + 𝐸𝜓 =0
𝜕𝑥 2 ℏ2

𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚𝐸𝑥
𝜕𝑥 2
+ 𝑘𝑥 2 𝜓 = 0 where 𝑘𝑥 = √ ℏ2
and the solutions to this are

The eigen functions for the x direction

2 𝑛𝑥 𝜋
𝜓𝒏𝒙 (𝑥) = √ cos ( 𝑥) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑥 𝑜𝑑𝑑 (even parity)
𝑎 𝑎

2 𝑛𝑥 𝜋
𝜓𝒏𝒙 (𝑥) = √𝑎 sin ( 𝑎
𝑥) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑥 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 (odd parity)

ℎ 2 𝑛𝑥 2
with the eigen values for energy as 𝐸𝑥 = 8𝑚𝐿2
where nx can take values 1,2,3,4,5….
The particle’s movement in the y direction can be analysed similarly.
𝝏𝟐 𝝍 𝟐𝒎
The Schrodinger’s equation can be written as + 𝟐 𝑬𝝍 =𝟎
𝝏𝒚𝟐 ℏ

𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚𝐸𝑦
𝜕𝑦 2
+ 𝑘 2 𝜓 = 0 where 𝑘𝑦 = √ ℏ2
and the solutions to this are

The eigen functions for the y direction

2 𝑛𝑦 𝜋
𝜓𝑛𝑦 (𝑦) = √𝑎 cos ( 𝑎
𝑦) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑑𝑑 (even parity)

2 𝑛𝑦 𝜋
𝜓𝑛𝑦 (𝑦) = √𝑎 sin ( 𝑎
𝑦) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 (odd parity)

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ℎ 2 𝑛𝑦 2
with the eigen values for energy as 𝐸𝑦 = 8𝑚𝐿2
where 𝑛𝑦 can take values 1,2,3,4,5….
ℎ 2 𝑛𝑥 2 ℎ 2 𝑛𝑦 2 ℎ2
The total energy of the system is then 𝐸𝑛 = 𝐸𝑥 + 𝐸𝑦 = + = (𝑛𝑥 2 + 𝑛𝑦 2 )
8𝑚𝐿2 8𝑚𝐿2 8𝑚𝐿2

The allowed energy states of the particle are then decided by the allowed values of nx and ny.
ℎ2
The first allowed state is the ground state of the system and given by 𝐸11 = 2 8𝑚𝐿2 = 2𝐸𝑜 where 𝐸𝑜 =
ℎ2
8𝑚𝐿2
.
The second allowed state of the system is given by 𝐸21 = 5𝐸𝑜 which is
also the energy of the state 𝐸12 . There are two allowed states for the
same energy value of 5𝐸𝑜 . This state is then doubly degenerate.
In general, for a 2D system in when 𝑛 𝑥 = 𝑛𝑦 the energy state is a
single state and when 𝑛 𝑥 ≠ 𝑛𝑦 the energy state has a degeneracy
factor of 2.
The separation between energy states does not increase
monotonically as in the 1D system.
The wave functions of the corresponding states can be written as
2 𝜋 𝜋
𝜓11 = 𝑎 cos (𝑎 𝑥) cos (𝑎 𝑦) for the first allowed state with 𝑛 𝑥 = 𝑛𝑦 = 1
2 2𝜋 𝜋
𝜓21 = 𝑎 sin ( 𝑎 𝑥) cos (𝑎 𝑦) for the second allowed state with 𝑛 𝑥 = 2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑦 = 1
2 𝜋 2𝜋
𝜓12 = 𝑎 cos (𝑎 𝑥) sin ( 𝑎 𝑦) for the allowed state with 𝑛 𝑥 = 1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑦 = 2

From the wave functions we realize that the two states are different but has the energy eigen value of
5Eo. Such states are referred to as degenerate states.

Particle in a 3D Box of infinite potential at the boundaries

A particle in a three dimensional well has three degrees of freedom and can move in 3D space. This
can be treated as a case of particle confined in a box of sides L with infinite potentials at the
boundaries of the x, y and z directions. The momentum P of a particle moving in space can be
resolved into three independent momentum components Px, Py and Pz along the coordinate axes.

This problem can be analysed as three independent problems for the x, y and z directions and the
individual solutions will be similar to the one dimensional infinite potential well problem.
𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚
The Schrodinger’s equation can be written as 𝜕𝑥 2
+ ℏ2
𝐸𝜓 =0

𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚𝐸𝑥
𝜕𝑥 2
+ 𝑘 2 𝜓 = 0 where 𝑘𝑥 = √ ℏ2
and the solutions to this are

The eigen function for the x directions

2 𝑛𝑥 𝜋
𝜓𝑛 (𝑥) = √𝑎 cos ( 𝑎
𝑥) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑥 𝑜𝑑𝑑 (even parity)

2 𝑛𝑥 𝜋
𝜓𝑛 (𝑥) = √𝑎 sin ( 𝑎
𝑥) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑥 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 (odd parity)

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ℎ 2 𝑛𝑥 2
with the eigen values for energy as 𝐸𝑥 = where nx can take values 1,2,3,4,5….
8𝑚𝐿2

The particle’s movement in the y direction can be analysed.

𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚
The Schrodinger’s equation can be written as 𝜕𝑥 2
+ ℏ2
𝐸𝜓 =0

𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚𝐸𝑦
+ 𝑘 2 𝜓 = 0 where 𝑘𝑦 = √ and the solutions to this are
𝜕𝑦 2 ℏ2

The eigen function for the y directions

2 𝑛𝑦 𝜋
𝜓𝑛 (𝑦) = √𝑎 cos ( 𝑎
𝑦) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑑𝑑 (even parity)

2 𝑛𝑦 𝜋
𝜓𝑛 (𝑦) = √ sin ( 𝑦) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 (odd parity)
𝑎 𝑎

ℎ 2 𝑛𝑦 2
with the eigen values for energy as 𝐸𝑦 = where 𝑛𝑦 can take values 1,2,3,4,5….
8𝑚𝐿2

The particle’s movement in the z direction can be analysed.

𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚
The Schrodinger’s equation can be written as 𝜕𝑧 2
+ ℏ2
𝐸𝜓 =0

𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚𝐸𝑧
+ 𝑘𝑧 2 𝜓 = 0 where 𝑘𝑧 = √ and the solutions to this are
𝜕𝑦 2 ℏ2

The eigen functions for the z direction

2 𝑛𝑧 𝜋
𝜓𝑛 (𝑧) = √ cos ( 𝑦) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑧 𝑜𝑑𝑑 (even parity)
𝑎 𝑎

2 𝑛𝑧 𝜋
𝜓𝑛 (𝑧) = √𝑎 sin ( 𝑎
𝑦) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑧 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 (odd parity)

ℎ 2 𝑛𝑦 2
with the eigen values for energy as 𝐸𝑦 = 8𝑚𝑎 2
where 𝑛𝑦 can take values 1,2,3,4,5….
The total energy of the system is then
ℎ2 𝑛𝑥 2 ℎ2 𝑛𝑦 2 ℎ2 𝑛𝑧 2 ℎ2
𝐸𝑛 = 𝐸𝑥 + 𝐸𝑦 + 𝐸𝑧 = + + = (𝑛 2 + 𝑛𝑦 2 + 𝑛𝑧 2 )
8𝑚𝑎2 8𝑚𝑎2 8𝑚𝑎2 8𝑚𝑎2 𝑥
The allowed energy states of the particle are then decided by the allowed values of nx, ny and nz.

The first allowed state is the ground state of the system and has an energy
ℎ2 ℎ2
𝐸111 = 3 8𝑚𝑎2 = 3𝐸𝑜 where 𝐸𝑜 = 8𝑚𝑎2.

The second allowed state of the system is given by 𝐸211 = 6𝐸𝑜 which is also the energy of the
state 𝐸121 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐸123 . There are three allowed states for the same energy value of 6𝐸𝑜 . This state is
then triply degenerate.

The analysis of the first few states reveal that the states are non degenerate when 𝑛 𝑥 = 𝑛𝑦 = 𝑛𝑧 .
The states have a degeneracy factor of 3 whenever two of the numbers 𝑛 𝑥 , 𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑧 are equal
and not equal to the third.

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When all the three numbers 𝑛 𝑥 , 𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑧 are unequal then the energy state would have a
degeneracy of 6.

Further the separation between energy states does not increase monotonically as in the 1D system.

The wave functions of the corresponding states can be written as

for the first allowed state with 𝑛 𝑥 = 1 , 𝑛𝑦 = 1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑧 = 1
3
2 2 𝜋 𝜋 𝜋
𝜓111 = (𝑎) cos (𝑎 𝑥) cos (𝑎 𝑦) cos (𝑎 𝑧)

the second allowed state with 𝑛 𝑥 = 2 , 𝑛𝑦 = 1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑧 = 1

3
2 2 2𝜋 𝜋 𝜋
𝜓211 = (𝑎) sin ( 𝑎 𝑥) cos (𝑎 𝑦) cos (𝑎 𝑧)

the allowed state with 𝑛 𝑥 = 1 , 𝑛𝑦 = 2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑧 = 1

2 𝜋 2𝜋 𝜋
𝜓121 = cos ( 𝑥) sin ( 𝑦) cos ( 𝑧)
𝑎 𝑎 𝑎 𝑎

for the allowed state with 𝑛 𝑥 = 1 , 𝑛𝑦 = 1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑧 = 2

3
2 2 𝜋 2𝜋 𝑛𝑧 𝜋
𝜓112 = (𝑎) cos (𝑎 𝑥) sin ( 𝑎 𝑦) sin ( 𝑎
𝑧)

From the wave functions we realize that the three states are different but has the energy Eigen value
of 6Eo.

Problem no. 5 - Finite potential well

The finite potential well is a closer approximation to real potentials in
solids. The particle can be confined to a region with constant potential
𝐿
VO at the walls |𝑥| > 2 .. Inside the potential well region of –L/2 to +L/2
the potential is zero. In this case the SWE for the three regions can be
solved to get the nature of the wave functions.

However, these do not result in an exact solution and approximation

methods are used. The nature of the wave functions in the three
regions can be written as

𝟐𝒎(𝑽𝒐 −𝑬)
𝝍𝟏 = 𝑫𝒆𝜶𝒙 where 𝜶 = √ for the region x< −𝐿⁄2
ℏ𝟐

𝝍𝟐 ≅ 𝑨 𝐜𝐨𝐬(𝒌𝟐 𝒙) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑑𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑛 or

2𝑚𝐸
𝝍𝟐 = 𝑨 𝐬𝐢𝐧(𝒌𝟐 𝒙) for even values of n where 𝑘2 = √ for the region
ℏ2
−𝐿⁄ < 𝑥 < 𝐿⁄
2 2
The cosine solutions show even parity (symmetric when sign of the
function becomes negative) and the sine solutions exhibit odd parity (anti
symmetric when sign of the function becomes negative). However, it is to
be noted that the wave function 𝝍𝟐 would not be zero at the boundaries of
𝐿 𝐿
− 2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 + 2.

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2𝑚(𝑉𝑜 −𝐸)
𝝍𝟑 = 𝑮𝒆−𝜶𝒙 where 𝛼 = √ ℏ2
for the region x > 𝐿⁄2
𝐿 𝐿
The continuity of the wave functions and their derivatives at the boundaries − 𝑎𝑛𝑑 + gives the
2 2
conditions

𝑳 𝟐𝒎𝑬 𝑳
𝜶 = 𝒌 𝐭𝐚𝐧(𝒌 𝟐) or √(𝑽𝒐 − 𝑬) = √𝐄 𝐭𝐚𝐧 (√ ∗ 𝟐) for
ℏ𝟐
n=1
and
𝑳 𝟐𝒎𝑬 𝑳
𝜶 = −𝒌 𝐜𝐨𝐭(𝒌 𝟐) or √(𝑽𝒐 − 𝑬) = −√𝐄 𝐜𝐨𝐭 (√ 𝟐 ∗ 𝟐)
ℏ
for n=2
It can be seen that the right-hand side and left-hand
side of the equations contain the same variable E and
the nature of variations of the functions on either sides
are quite different and hence an exact solution do not
exist. (Equations of this type are called transcendental
equations.)
The energy values of the particle inside the well region can be found from graphical or approximate
methods. The variation of the left-hand side and the right-hand side could be plotted on the same
graph as a function. The points of intersection of the LHS and RHS plots are the solutions as the
values of E satisfy both the equations.
Thus, the different energy states could be evaluated.
Since the particle is in the finite potential well, at least one solution to the problem exists. Or one
energy state exists for the particle in the finite potential well. The number of solutions would obviously
depend on the height of the finite potential Vo.
From the expression for the energy of an infinite potential well we can write the energy of the particle
in a finite potential well as
ℏ𝟐 𝝅𝟐 𝒏𝟐 ℏ𝟐 𝒏𝟐
𝑬𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆 = =
𝟐𝒎𝑳𝟐 𝟐𝒎(𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝝍 → 𝟎)𝟐
In the case of the finite potential well we can define the effective width of the well as the points where
the wave function becomes insignificant. Thus, the effective width of the well is the width of the well
plus twice the penetration depth of the particle in that energy state. The penetration depths in the
𝒉
regions of the potential Vo is given by 𝚫𝒙 = which is a function of Ex.
√𝟐𝒎(𝑽𝒐 −𝑬𝒙 )

The effective width of the box (defined approx as the points at the wave function becomes
insignificant of zero) is then larger and can be approximated as L+2∆𝑥
In the case of the finite potential well the energy of the particle can be written as
ℏ𝟐 𝝅𝟐 𝒏𝟐 ℏ𝟐 𝝅𝟐 𝒏𝟐
𝑬𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆 = =
𝟐𝒎(𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝝍 → 𝟎)𝟐 𝟐𝒎(𝑳 + 𝟐∆𝒙)𝟐
Hence the energy values are less than the energy values for the corresponding states of an infinite
potential well of the width L.

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

Problem no. 6 - Harmonic Oscillator

Harmonic oscillator is one of the most fundamental systems in quantum

mechanics which gives insight to a variety of problems such as the
vibrational molecular spectroscopy.

The classical harmonic oscillator is a bound particle subjected to oscillations

about a mean position. However, a restoring force that is proportional to the
displacement of the particle from a mean position keeps the amplitude of the
oscillations within limits. The force equation of such a system in classical
𝐝𝟐 𝐱
physics is 𝐅 = 𝐦𝐚 = 𝐦 𝐝𝐭 𝟐
= −𝐤𝐱 where k is the force constant given by
𝐤
mω2 where 𝛚 = √𝐦 is the frequency of vibration and m is the mass of the
system.

The potential energy of the system is evaluated as

𝟏 𝟏
𝐕 = − ∫ 𝐅𝐝𝐱 = ∫ 𝐤𝐱𝐝𝐱 = 𝟐
𝐤𝐱 𝟐 = 𝟐 𝐦𝛚𝟐 𝐱 𝟐 .

Consider a diatomic molecule with the masses of the atoms as m1 and

m2 bound by a bond that is springy in nature. This can be studied as a
spring mass system with spring constant (which basically depend on the
bond strength). In this case the effective mass 𝛍 of the system will
𝐤
decide the frequency of oscillations 𝛚 = √𝛍 and the potential energy of the system can be written as
𝟏
𝐕(𝒙) = 𝟐
𝝁𝝎𝟐 𝒙𝟐 .

Using this form of the potential in the Hamiltonian 𝐇𝛙 we get

ℏ𝟐 𝐝𝟐 𝛙(𝐱) ℏ𝟐 𝐝𝟐 𝛙(𝐱) 𝟏
− 𝟐𝛍 𝐝𝐱 𝟐
+ 𝐕𝛙(𝐱) = − 𝟐𝛍 𝐝𝐱 𝟐
+ 𝟐 𝛍𝛚𝟐 𝐱 𝟐 = 𝐄𝛙(𝐱)

The Schrodinger wave equation can be written as

𝒅𝟐 𝝍(𝒙) 𝟐𝝁 𝟏
𝟐
+ 𝟐 ( 𝑬 − 𝝁𝝎𝟐 𝒙𝟐 ) 𝝍(𝒙) = 𝟎
𝒅𝒙 ℏ 𝟐
𝟏
Notice the term 𝐄 − 𝛍𝛚𝟐 𝐱 𝟐 is positive since V(x) cannot increase infinitely.
𝟐

𝝁𝝎
A solution to this can be attempted by substituting 𝛏 = 𝛄𝐱 (𝜉 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑧𝑎𝑖) and 𝛄 = √
ℏ

𝟏
(𝛄𝐱)𝟐
The eigen function is of the form 𝛙𝒏 (𝒙) = 𝐍𝐧 𝐇𝐧 (𝛄𝐱)𝐞−𝟐

𝛄
where n=0,1,2,3,4… 𝐍𝐧 = √[𝟐𝐧𝐧! 𝛑] and
√

𝐇𝐧 (𝛏) are the Hermite polynomials described by

𝐇𝐧+𝟏 (𝛏) = 𝟐𝛏𝐇𝐧 (𝛏) − 𝟐𝐧𝐇𝐧−𝟏 (𝛏) 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧 ≥ 𝟏

The first two terms of the Hermite polynomial are 𝐇𝟎 (𝛏) = 𝟏 and 𝐇𝟏 (𝛏) = 𝟐𝛏 which can be used to
find the successive terms.

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

𝟏
𝟏 𝟐 𝝁𝝎 𝟒 𝟏𝝁𝝎 𝟐
𝝍𝟎 (𝒙) = 𝑵𝟎 𝑯𝟎 (𝝃)𝒆−𝟐𝝃 = ( ) 𝒆 −𝟐 ℏ 𝒙
𝝅ℏ
𝟑
𝟏 𝟐 𝟐 𝝁𝝎 𝟒 𝟏𝝁𝝎 𝟐
𝝍𝟏 (𝒙) = 𝑵𝟏 𝑯𝟏 (𝝃)𝒆−𝟐𝝃 = √ . ( ) . 𝒙. 𝒆−𝟐 ℏ 𝒙
√𝝅 𝝅ℏ

The solutions yield the Eigen energy values of the system as

𝟏
𝐄𝐧 = (𝐧 + ) ℏ𝛚
𝟐
𝟏 𝟑 𝟓
This gives the allowed energy states as 𝟐
ℏ𝛚, 𝟐 ℏ𝛚, 𝟐 ℏ𝛚, … …

𝟏
Thus, the minimum energy state of the system is a non-zero = 𝟐 ℏ𝛚
where ω is the fundamental frequency of vibration. The higher energy
states are then equally spaced at ℏω which is unlike the energy of
states in the particle in a box solution.

[To verify that the wave functions are solutions of the SWE, we can substitute 𝝍𝟎 (𝒙) and the
𝟏
corresponding energy 𝐄𝐨 = ( ) ℏ𝛚 in the Schrodinger’s wave equation.
𝟐

𝟏 𝟏
𝒅 𝒅 𝝁𝝎 𝟒 −𝟏𝝁𝝎𝒙𝟐 𝝁𝝎 𝟒 𝝁𝝎 −𝟏𝝁𝝎𝒙𝟐 𝝁𝝎
{𝝍𝟎 (𝒙)} = {( ) 𝒆 𝟐 ℏ } = {− ( ) . 𝒙𝒆 𝟐 ℏ } = − 𝒙𝝍𝟎 (𝒙)
𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒙 𝝅ℏ 𝝅ℏ ℏ ℏ

𝒅 𝝁𝝎 𝝁𝝎 𝝁𝝎 𝟐
Differentiating once again
𝒅𝒙
[− ℏ 𝒙𝝍𝟎 (𝒙)] = −(
𝝅ℏ
) {𝝍𝟎 (𝒙) − ℏ
𝒙 𝝍𝟎 (𝒙)}

Substituting this in the SWE gives

𝝁𝝎 𝝁𝝎 𝟐 𝟐𝝁 𝟏 𝟏
− ( ) {𝝍𝟎 (𝒙) − 𝒙 𝝍𝟎 (𝒙)} + 𝟐 ( ( ) ℏ𝛚 − 𝝁𝝎𝟐 𝒙𝟐 ) 𝝍𝟎 (𝒙) =
ℏ ℏ ℏ 𝟐 𝟐
𝝁𝝎 𝝁𝝎 𝟐 𝟐𝝁 𝟏 𝟐𝝁 𝟏
− ( ) 𝝍𝟎 (𝒙) + ( ) 𝒙𝟐 𝝍𝟎 (𝒙) + 𝟐 ( ) ℏ𝛚 − 𝟐 𝝁𝝎𝟐 𝒙𝟐 𝝍𝟎 (𝒙) = 𝟎
ℏ ℏ ℏ 𝟐 ℏ 𝟐
Thus, we note that 𝝍𝟎 (𝒙) satisfies the SWE and hence is an
eigen function of the system

Similarly, verify that 𝝍𝟏 (𝒙) also satisfies the SWE with the
𝟑
corresponding energy 𝐄𝟏 = ( ) ℏ𝛚.]
𝟐

The wave functions of the system can be graphically inferred

by considering each of the states to be equivalent to a one-
dimensional finite potential well. The width of the well
corresponds to the maximum displacement in that state.
Therefore, the wave functions of the finite potential well that we
inferred are useful even in this case. However, each state has
an increasing width and the tails of the decaying wave
functions also increase as the energy of the state increases. The probability distribution functions for
the first few states are also shown in the figure.

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

The real potential energy variations deviate from the ideal parabolic potential energy curve. The
bonding results in exchange of electrons / sharing of electrons resulting in a deviation of the
electrostatic interactions. The deviation is treated as a perturbation of the harmonic oscillator potential
with an addition term for the potential.

The result of this variation results in energy levels which are

not uniformly distributed and the separation between the
energy levels decrease for larger values of n.

This analysis helps us understand the vibration energy states

of a diatomic molecule and forms the fundamental analysis of
the Infra Red absorption by the molecular. This analysis can
be extended to understand the vibrational states of lattices in a
crystal which leads to the concept of phonons in crystals.

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

Problem 7: Discussion of the solutions to the Hydrogen atom problem.

The hydrogen atom is the simplest possible stable atom with one proton in
the nucleus and one electron in the orbital. In the ground state, the system
exhibits perfect spherical symmetry. Hence the possibility of looking for a
solution to the Schrodinger’s wave equation for the states of the electron
could be attempted. Though the problem looks very simple as a case of only
two particles, the mathematical analysis of the solutions is very exhaustive.
The methodology and the solutions are discussed to present a picture of how
the quantum numbers of a system evolves out naturally from the solution of
the differential equation in three dimensions.
The 3D SWE in cartesian co-ordinate system can be written as
ℏ𝟐 𝝏𝟐 𝝏𝟐 𝝏𝟐
( 𝟐 + 𝟐 + 𝟐 ) 𝚿(𝒙, 𝒚, 𝒛) + (𝑬 – 𝑽)𝚿(𝒙, 𝒚, 𝒛) = 𝟎
𝟐𝒎 𝝏𝒙 𝝏𝒚 𝝏𝒛
Since the hydrogen atom exhibits a spherical symmetry it is prudent to
write the Schrodinger’s wave equation in the spherical co-ordinate
system (𝒓, 𝜽, 𝜑).
[ the transition to the spherical coordinate system from the cartesian coordinate
system is possible with the transition relations
𝑥 = 𝑟 sin 𝜃 cos 𝜑 , 𝑦 = 𝑟 sin 𝜃 sin 𝜑 and 𝑧 = 𝑟 cos 𝜃
where 𝑟 = √𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 + 𝑧 2 is the radius vector
√𝑥 2 +𝑦2
𝜃 = tan−1 ( 𝑧
) is the polar angle (varying between 0 𝑡𝑜 2𝜋 and
𝑦
𝜑 = tan−1 (𝑥 )] is the azimuthal angle (varying between 0 𝑡𝑜 2𝜋 ]

In spherical polar co-ordinate system, the SWE can be written as

ℏ𝟐 𝟏 𝝏 𝝏𝚿 𝝏 𝝏𝚿 𝟏 𝝏𝟐 𝚿
𝟐𝝁 𝒓𝟐 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽
[𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽 𝝏𝒓 (𝒓𝟐 𝝏𝒓 ) + 𝝏𝜽 (𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽 𝝏𝜽 ) + 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽 𝝏𝝋𝟐 ] + (𝑬 − 𝑽(𝒓) )𝚿(𝒓, 𝜽, 𝜑) = 𝟎

where the wave function in spherical polar co-ordinates is 𝚿(𝒓, 𝜽, 𝜑).

𝒆𝟐
The potential energy term can be written as 𝑽(𝒓) = 𝟒𝝅𝜺
𝒐𝒓

The wave function can be resolved into three independent components in the three independent
variables 𝒓, 𝜽 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝜑.
𝚿(𝒓, 𝜽, 𝜑) = 𝑹(𝒓). 𝚯(𝜽). 𝚽(𝝋)
The Schrodinger’s wave equation can be resolved into three mutually independent equations using the
method of separation of variables as
𝟏 𝝏𝟐 𝚽
Φ 𝝏𝝋𝟐
= −𝒎𝟐𝒍 with the solution 𝚽(𝝋) = 𝑨𝒆𝒊𝒎𝒍 𝝋 where 𝒎𝒍 = 𝒐, ±𝟏, ±𝟐, ….is the magnetic
quantum number (which gives the possible orientations of the quantized angular momentum of the
system).
1 𝝏𝟐 𝚽
Substituting for the expression Φ 𝝏𝝋𝟐 we can separate the expressions in 𝑹 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝚯 as

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

𝒎𝟐𝒍 𝟏 𝝏 𝝏𝚯(𝜽)
− [ (𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽 )] = 𝒍(𝒍 + 𝟏)
𝐬𝐢𝐧𝟐 𝜽 𝚯𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽 𝝏𝜽 𝝏𝜽

where 𝒍 is an arbitrary constant which an integer greater than or equal to 𝒎𝒍 . This puts a restriction on
𝒎𝒍 = 𝒐, ±𝟏, ±𝟐, … . ±𝒍

In general, 𝒍 = 𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑 … . . 𝒏 − 𝟏 is the angular momentum quantum number which describes the

quantized angular momentum of the orbital electron as 𝑳 = √(𝒍(𝒍 + 𝟏). ℏ

The radial part of the wave equation

𝟏 𝝏 𝟐 𝝏𝐑 𝟐𝝁𝒓𝟐
[ (𝒓 ) +] + 𝟐 [𝑬 − 𝑽(𝒓)] = 𝒍(𝒍 + 𝟏)
𝑹 𝝏𝒓 𝝏𝒓 ℏ
We observe that the energy of the system is dependent only on the solution of this equation which
gives the radial component of the wave function as
𝟏 𝒍+𝟏 −𝝆
𝑹𝒏𝒍(𝒓) = 𝝆 𝒆 . 𝒗(𝝆)
𝒓
𝒓 𝟒𝝅𝜺𝒐 ℏ𝟐
The variable 𝝆 = 𝒂𝒏 where n is an integer 𝒏 = 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑.. and 𝒂 ≡ = 𝟎. 𝟓𝟐𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟎 𝒎 is the
𝝁𝒆𝟐
Bohr radius.

𝒗(𝝆) is a polynomial of degree 𝒋𝒎𝒂𝒙 = 𝒏 − 𝒍 − 𝟏 given by 𝒗(𝝆) = ∑∞

𝒋=𝟎 𝒄𝒋 𝝆
𝒋

𝒐 𝟐(𝒋+𝒍+𝟏)−𝝆
whose co-efficient are given by the recursion formula 𝒄𝒋+𝟏 = {(𝒋+𝟏)(𝒋+𝟐𝒍+𝟐) } 𝒄𝒋 and 𝝆𝒐 = 𝟐𝒏

𝟐 𝟑 (𝒏−𝒍−𝟏)! −𝒓⁄ 𝟐𝒓 𝒍
The normalized radial wave function 𝑹𝒏𝒍(𝒓) = √(𝒏𝒂) 𝒆 𝒏𝒂 ( )
𝟐𝒏[(𝒏+𝟏)!]𝟑 𝒏𝒂

where n is the principal quantum number defined by 𝒏 = 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑 … ..

The first few radial wave functions can be written as
𝟑 −𝒓⁄
𝑹𝟏𝟎 (𝑟) = 𝟐𝒂− ⁄𝟐 𝒆 𝒂 for n=1 and l=0
𝟏 𝟑 𝟏𝒓 −𝒓⁄
𝑹𝟐𝟎 (𝑟) = 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (𝟏 − 𝟐 𝒂) 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 for n=2 and l=0
√𝟐
𝟏 𝟑 𝒓 −𝒓⁄
𝑹𝟐𝟏 (𝑟) = 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 ( ) 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 for n=2 and l=1
√𝟐𝟒 𝒂

These wave functions can be shown to be solutions of the radial wave

equation. Then by induction we conclude that the radial wave function is
a solution of the radial part of the SWE.

The probability of finding the electron at a distance r from the nucleus can
be estimated using the probability density. The plot shows the probability of
locating the electron in the three states 1s, 2s and 3s.

ℏ𝟐 𝒌𝟐 𝝁𝒆𝟒 𝝁𝒆𝟒
The eigen energy simplifies to 𝑬𝒏 = − = − 𝟖𝝅𝟐 𝜺𝟐 ℏ𝟐𝝆𝟐 = − 𝟖𝝅𝟐 𝜺𝟐 ℏ𝟐.𝟒𝒏𝟐
𝟐𝝁 𝒐 𝒐 𝒐

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

𝟐 𝟐
𝝁 𝒆𝟐 𝟏 𝝁 𝒆𝟐 𝟏
𝑬𝒏 = − [𝟐ℏ𝟐 (𝟒𝝅𝜺 ) ] 𝒏𝟐 = − [𝟐ℏ𝟐 (𝟒𝝅𝜺 ) ] 𝒏𝟐 where n=1,2,3….
𝒐 𝒐

The energy is written as negative to indicate that the system is in a bound state. This implies that when
the energy of the system goes to zero the binding between the particles is broken and the particles are
free particles. This happens for a large value of 𝒏 → ∞

𝟐
𝝁 𝒆𝟐
The ground state energy of the system can be evaluated as 𝑬𝟏 = − [𝟐ℏ𝟐 (𝟒𝝅𝜺 ) ] = −𝟏𝟑. 𝟔𝒆𝑽
𝒐

The different allowed energy states correspond to the different values of n. This enables to estimate
the energy of transition between different states, which gives us the absorption or emission spectra of
the atom.

The energy difference between two states can be evaluated as

𝟐 𝟐
𝝁 𝒆𝟐 𝟏 𝝁 𝒆𝟐 𝟏
∆𝑬 = 𝑬𝒏𝟏 − 𝑬𝒏𝟐 = − [{𝟐ℏ𝟐 (𝟒𝝅𝜺 ) } 𝒏𝟐 − {𝟐ℏ𝟐 (𝟒𝝅𝜺 ) } 𝒏𝟐]
𝒐 𝟏 𝒐 𝟐

The transitions from states with 𝑛 > 1 𝑡𝑜 𝑛 = 1 result in

spectral lines in the ultraviolet region which is the Lyman
series.

The transitions from states with 𝑛 > 2 𝑡𝑜 𝑛 = 2 result in

spectral lines in the visible region which is the Balmer series.

The transitions from states with 𝑛 > 3 𝑡𝑜 𝑛 = 3 result in

spectral lines in the infra red region which is the Paschen
series.

ℎ𝑐
The predicted values of the wavelengths of the spectral lines of the Hydrogen atom (∆𝐸 = ) agree
𝜆
with the observed wavelengths in the emission spectra of the Hydrogen atom.

The same analysis can be used to study hydrogen like atoms with a single electron in the outer most
orbital such as Deuterium, doubly ionized Lithium, etc. The effective mass 𝝁 can be estimated and
gives reasonably correct values of the energy of the states and hence their spectral characteristics.

[ Verification of the eigen functions of the radial equation:

The radial part of the wave equation
𝝏 𝟐 𝝏𝐑 𝟐𝝁𝒓𝟐
[ (𝒓 ) +] + 𝟐 [𝑬 − 𝑽(𝒓)] 𝑹 = 𝒍(𝒍 + 𝟏) 𝑹
𝝏𝒓 𝝏𝒓 ℏ
𝟏 𝟑 𝟏𝒓 −𝒓⁄
For the state n=2, l=0 the radial equation 𝑹𝟐𝟎 (𝑟) = √𝟐 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (𝟏 − 𝟐 𝒂) 𝒆 𝟐𝒂

𝝏 𝝏𝐑 𝟐𝟎 𝟐𝝁𝒓𝟐
The radial wave equation [𝝏𝒓 (𝒓𝟐 ) +] + [𝑬 − 𝑽(𝒓)] 𝐑 𝟐𝟎 = 𝟎
𝝏𝒓 ℏ𝟐

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

𝟐
𝝁 𝒆𝟐 𝟏 𝒆𝟐
The energy 𝑬𝟐 = − [𝟐ℏ𝟐 (𝟒𝝅𝜺 ) ] 𝟐𝟐 and the potential 𝑽(𝒓) = 𝟒𝝅𝜺
𝒐 𝒐𝒓

The first term of the Radial wave equation:

Differentiating 𝐑 𝟐𝟎 with respect to 𝒓 once
𝝏𝐑 𝟐𝟎 𝟏 𝟑 𝟏 −𝒓⁄ 𝟏 −𝒓⁄ 𝒓 −𝒓⁄ 𝟏 𝟑 𝟏 −𝒓⁄ 𝒓 −𝒓⁄
= 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (− 𝟐𝒂 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 − 𝟐𝒂 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 + (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 ) = 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (− 𝒂 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 + (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 )
𝝏𝒓 √𝟐 √𝟐

𝝏𝐑 𝟐𝟎 𝟏 𝟑 𝒓𝟐 −𝒓⁄ 𝒓𝟑 −𝒓
Multiplying the result with 𝒓𝟐 𝒓𝟐 = 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (− 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 +
(𝟐𝒂)𝟐
𝒆 ⁄𝟐𝒂 )
𝝏𝒓 √𝟐 𝒂

Differentiating the result once again with respect to 𝒓

𝝏 𝝏𝐑 𝟐𝟎 𝟏 𝟑 𝟐𝒓 −𝒓⁄ 𝒓𝟐 −𝒓⁄ 𝟏 𝟑𝒓𝟐 −𝒓⁄ 𝒓𝟑 −𝒓⁄ 𝟏
(𝒓𝟐 ) = √𝟐 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (− 𝒂
𝒆 𝟐𝒂 − 𝒂
𝒆 𝟐𝒂 × (− 𝟐𝒂) + (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 + (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 × (− 𝟐𝒂))
𝝏𝒓 𝝏𝒓

𝟏 𝟑 𝟐𝒓 −𝒓⁄ 𝟐𝒓𝟐 −𝒓⁄ 𝟑𝒓𝟐 −𝒓⁄ 𝒓𝟑 −𝒓⁄

= 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (− 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 + 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 + 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 − 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 )
√𝟐 𝒂 (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 (𝟐𝒂)𝟑
𝝏 𝝏𝐑 𝟐𝟎 𝟏 𝟑 𝟐𝒓 −𝒓⁄ 𝟓𝒓𝟐 −𝒓⁄ 𝒓𝟑 −𝒓
(𝒓𝟐 )= 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (− 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 +( 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 −( 𝒆 ⁄𝟐𝒂 )
𝝏𝒓 𝝏𝒓 √𝟐 𝒂 𝟐𝒂)𝟐 𝟐𝒂)𝟑

Evaluating the second term, substituting for 𝑬𝟐 & 𝑽(𝒓) and simplifying
𝟐
𝟐𝝁𝒓𝟐 𝟐𝝁𝒓𝟐 𝝁 𝒆𝟐 𝟏 𝟐𝝁𝒓𝟐 𝒆𝟐 𝒓𝟐 𝟐𝒓
[𝑬𝟐 − 𝑽(𝒓)] = [− [𝟐ℏ𝟐 (𝟒𝝅𝜺 ) ] 𝟐𝟐 − ] = [− (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 + ]
ℏ𝟐 ℏ𝟐 𝒐 ℏ𝟐 𝟒𝝅𝜺𝒐 𝒓 𝒂

𝟐𝝁𝒓𝟐 𝟐𝒓𝟐 𝟐𝒓 𝟏 𝟑 𝟏𝒓 −𝒓⁄

[𝑬 − 𝑽(𝒓)] 𝐑 𝟐𝟎 = [− + ]× 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (𝟏 − )𝒆 𝟐𝒂
ℏ𝟐 ( 𝟐𝒂)𝟐 𝒂 √𝟐 𝟐𝒂

𝟏 𝟑 𝟏𝒓 𝟐𝒓𝟐 𝟐𝒓 −𝒓⁄
= 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (𝟏 − ) [− (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 + ]𝒆 𝟐𝒂
√𝟐 𝟐𝒂 𝒂

𝟏 𝟑 𝒓𝟐 𝟐𝒓 𝒓𝟑 𝟐 𝒓𝟐 −𝒓
= 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 [− (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 + + (𝟐𝒂)𝟑 − ] 𝒆 ⁄𝟐𝒂
√𝟐 𝒂 𝟐 𝒂𝟐

𝟏 𝟑 𝒓𝟑 𝟓𝒓𝟐 𝟐𝒓 −𝒓⁄
= 𝒂− ⁄𝟐 [(𝟐𝒂)𝟑 − (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 + 𝒂
+] 𝒆 𝟐𝒂
√𝟐
The sum of the two terms
𝟏 𝟑 𝟐𝒓 −𝒓⁄ 𝟓𝒓𝟐 −𝒓⁄ 𝒓𝟑 −𝒓⁄ 𝟏 −𝟑⁄ 𝒓𝟑 𝟓𝒓𝟐 𝟐𝒓 −𝒓⁄
𝒂− ⁄𝟐 (− 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 + (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 − (𝟐𝒂)𝟑 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 ) + 𝒂 𝟐 [(𝟐𝒂)𝟑 − (𝟐𝒂)𝟐 + +] 𝒆 𝟐𝒂 =0
√𝟐 𝒂 √𝟐 𝒂

Thus, 𝐑 𝟐𝟎 is a solution of the radial wave equation. It can be verified similarly for wave functions of
any state. ]

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

Additional inputs for conceptual understanding.

[ Particle in a Box with infinite potentials at the walls (boundaries

at x=0 to x=L

A particle in an one dimensional box is confined to be within the

boundaries (x=0 and x=L) where the potential tends to infinity. The
particle cannot be found outside the boundary x<0 and X>L. The
potential inside the well V=0.
𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚
The Schrödinger’s wave equation 𝜕𝑥 2
+ ℏ2
(𝐸 − 𝑉)𝜓 = 0
𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚
in the region within the well V=0 this becomes 𝜕𝑥 2
+ ℏ2
𝐸𝜓 =0

𝜕2 𝜓 2𝑚𝐸
𝜕𝑥 2
+ 𝑘 2 𝜓 = 0 where 𝑘 = √ ℏ2

The solution of the equation in region 0<x<L is given by

𝜓(𝑥) = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛(𝑘𝑥) + 𝐵𝑐𝑜𝑠(𝑘𝑥)
Applying the boundary condition that 𝜓 = 0 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑥 = 𝐿
At x=0 𝜓(𝑥 = 0) = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛(𝑘0) + 𝐵𝑐𝑜𝑠(𝑘0) = 0 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝐵 = 0
The wave function then reduces to𝜓(𝑥) = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛(𝑘𝑥)
At x=L 𝜓(𝐿) = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛(𝑘𝐿) = 0 .
If A=0 the wave function does not exist and hence 𝑘𝐿 = 𝑛𝜋
𝜋 𝜋
Or 𝑘 = 𝑛. , thus propagation constant can be only multiples of
𝐿 𝐿
ℏ2 𝑛2
This also gives us the energy 𝐸𝑛 = 8𝑚𝐿2
𝑛𝜋
The wave function then reduces to 𝜓(𝑥) = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛 ( 𝐿 𝑥)
𝐿
The constant A can be evaluated by normalizing the wave function ie., ∫0 𝜓 ∗ 𝜓 𝑑𝑥 = 1
𝐿
𝑛𝜋 2 𝐴2 𝐿 2𝑛𝜋
∫ [𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛 ( 𝑥)] 𝑑𝑥 = ∫ [1 − 𝑐𝑜𝑠 ( 𝑥)] 𝑑𝑥
0 𝐿 2 0 𝐿
𝐴2 𝐿 2𝑛𝜋 𝐿 𝐴2
Which on integration gives [1 − 2𝑛𝜋 𝑠𝑖𝑛 ( 𝑥)] = [𝐿 − 0] = 1 .
2 𝐿 0 2

2
This gives a value of 𝐴 = √𝐿

2 𝑛𝜋
The exact form of the wave function becomes 𝜓𝑛 (𝑥) = √𝐿 𝑠𝑖𝑛 ( 𝐿 𝑥)

Eigen functions and Eigen values

2 𝑛𝜋𝑥
The Eigen function of a particle in a infinite potential well 𝜓𝑛 = √𝐿 𝑠𝑖𝑛 ( 𝐿
) and the Eigen energy
ℎ 2 𝑛2
values is given function 𝐸𝑛 = 8𝑚𝐿2 where n = 1,2 3…
The first three states correspond to n=1,2 and 3

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

2 𝜋𝑥 2 2𝜋𝑥 2 3𝜋𝑥
The Eigen fuctions are 𝜓1 = √𝐿 𝑠𝑖𝑛 ( 𝐿 ) 𝜓2 = √𝐿 𝑠𝑖𝑛 ( 𝐿
) 𝜓3 = √𝐿 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝐿
)

ℎ2 ℎ 2 22 ℎ 2 32
And the Eigen values are 𝐸1 = 8𝑚𝐿2 𝐸2 = 8𝑚𝐿2 𝐸3 = 8𝑚𝐿2

Probability density 𝜓 ∗ 𝜓 for the first three states is obtained by squaring the wave function
2 𝑛𝜋𝑥
𝜓𝑛 = √𝐿 𝑠𝑖𝑛 ( 𝐿
) . The square of the function is close to a Gaussian shape.

In the first state n=1 the probability of finding the particle is maximum at 𝐿⁄2 and the area under the
curve represents the total probability of finding the particle in the ground state which is 1.00
In the second state n=2 the probability of finding the particle is maximum at 𝐿⁄4 and 3𝐿⁄4 .The area
under one segment of the curve represents the probability of finding the particle in the first excited
state and is 1⁄𝑛 = 0.5.
In the third state n=3 the probability of finding the particle is maximum at 𝐿⁄6 , 𝐿⁄3 and + 5𝐿⁄6 .The
area under one segment of the curve represents the probability of finding the particle in the first
excited state and is 1⁄𝑛 = 0.333.
In general, the probability of finding the particle in the nth state, in a segment of length 𝐿⁄𝑛 is 1⁄𝑛. ]

Concept of Fermions, Fermi Dirac Statics

One of the factors which is used in classification of fundamental particles is the concept of the spin of
the particle. The spin is a measure of the intrinsic angular momentum possessed by a particle.
According to quantum mechanics all particles with a spin ±𝟏𝟐 or odd integral multiples of ±𝟏𝟐 are
classified as Fermions and all particles with integral or zero spin are classified as Bosons.
Fermions include electrons, protons, neutrons. Electrons which are Fermions form the fundamental
idea of the development of the periodic table. The fermionic nature of electrons in a metal is
responsible for the behavior of electrons in a metal.
In any given system with a collection of electrons (which are identical and indistinguishable particles)
there is a distribution of the electrons in available energy states following Pauli’s Exclusion Principle.
At very low temperatures all the available electrons are arranged in discrete energy states and the
highest occupied electron state is referred to as the Fermi Energy of the system.

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

Fermi Dirac statistics, Fermi factor

The occupation probabilities of the different energy states with fermions at different temperatures are
estimated using the Fermi Dirac statistics.
The Fermi factor gives the probability of an energy state E either above or below the Fermi energy Ef
of the system to be occupied at a temperature T and is expressed as
1
𝐹𝑑 = 𝐸−𝐸𝑓
( )
(𝑒 𝑘𝐵 𝑇 + 1)

Estimation of the Fermi factor at T=0K gives distinct results for E<Ef and E >Ef.
1
• If E<Ef then for E-Ef is negative, then the Fermi factor 𝐹𝑑 = ∆𝐸 .
−( )
(𝑒 𝑘𝐵 𝑇 +1)

1
At 0K this becomes 𝐹𝑑 = = 1. This implies that at 0K all electron states below the
(𝑒 −(∞) +1)
Fermi level are filled states.
1
• If E>Ef then for E-Ef is positive, then the Fermi factor 𝐹𝑑 = ∆𝐸 .
( )
(𝑒 𝑘𝐵 𝑇 +1)

1
At 0K this becomes 𝐹𝑑 = = 0. This implies that at 0K all electron states above the
(𝑒 (∞) +1)
Fermi level are empty states.
𝟏 𝟏 𝟏
• For T>0 and E=Ef the Fermi factor 𝑭𝒅 = 𝑬−𝑬𝒇 = = = 𝟎. 𝟓 . This gives a
( ) 𝒆𝟎 +𝟏 𝟐
𝒌𝑩 𝑻
(𝒆 +𝟏)

probability of occupation of 50% for the Fermi energy.

The variation of the fermi factor with energy for different temperatures can be graphically
represented as shown:
At 0 K, the fermi factor has the maximum value of
one up to the fermi energy and beyond that 𝑭𝒅 is
consistently zero.
At higher temperatures, the fermi factor is a
constant one up to approximately 𝑬𝒇 − 𝒌𝑻 and
decreases from 1 to 0.5 at 𝑬𝒇 . Beyond 𝑬𝒇 , 𝑭𝒅
decreases to zero approx. at 𝑬𝒇 + 𝒌𝑻.

The Fermi energy has a weak temperature dependence and is given by

2
𝜋 2 𝑘𝐵 𝑇
𝐸𝑓 = 𝐸𝑓0 [1 − ( ) ]
12 𝐸𝑓0
𝑘𝐵 𝑇
where Efo is the Fermi energy at zero Kelvin. At normal temperature ranges the ratio of is very
𝐸𝑓0
low and hence can be approximated to be a constant equal to the value at zero Kelvin.

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Fermi temperature
The arrangement of electrons in discrete energy states leads to the concept that only electrons near
the Fermi energy are excited into the states above 𝑬𝒇 ( referred to as the conduction states for free
electrons in a metal and it may be really difficult to excite all the valence electrons into the
conduction states). If the temperature of the metal is T then kBT is the thermal energy available to
the electrons in the metal. The thermal energy required to excite the last electron at the bottom of
the energy band if termed as kBTf, then at temperature Tf the electron would have an energy 𝐸𝑓 =
𝑘𝐵 𝑇𝑓 . This temperature is termed as the Fermi temperature of electrons in the metal.

Fermi velocity
From the above analysis only a small fraction of electrons close to the fermi energy can be taking
part in the conduction processes. The electrons excited into the conduction states have energies
very close to the Fermi energy. These conduction electrons then possess a kinetic energy which
may be equal to Fermi energy.
1
The kinetic energy of the electrons near the Fermi energy is 𝐸𝑓 = 2
𝑚𝑣𝑓 2 where 𝑣𝑓 the Fermi
2𝐸𝑓
velocity of conduction electrons is 𝑣𝑓 = √ .
𝑚

Density of states derivation

The electrons in a metal can be approximated to the particle in a box in
three dimensions, since under normal conditions the electrons cannot
escape the boundaries of the metal. Consider a mono-valent metal in the L
form of a cube of side L. Inside the metal the electrons can be assumed to
be moving in a zero potential field. L

The three-dimensional Schrödinger’s wave equation can be written as three L

one dimensional Schrödinger’s wave equation and their corresponding
L
solutions analyzed.
The x component of the particle motion can be described by the wave function which is the solution
of the SWE
ℏ2 𝑑 2 𝜓(𝑥).
2𝑚 𝑑𝑥 2
+ Eψ(𝑥) = 0
ℎ 2 𝑛𝑥 2
This gives the Eigen energy value for the x component as 𝐸𝑛𝑥 =
8𝑚𝐿2

h2 ny 2 h2 nz 2
Similarly, the energy in the other two dimensions can be evaluated as Eny = 8mL2
and Enz = 8mL2

The total energy of the electron can be written as

𝐡𝟐 h2
En = 𝟖𝐦𝐋𝟐 (nx 2 + ny 2 + nz 2 ) = 8mL2 R2 --------- (1) where R2 = nx 2 + ny 2 + nz 2

The number of states with energy E can be evaluated by studying the variation of the combinations
of nx, ny and nz. It can be deduced that every combination of nx, ny and nz result in an energy state
as per equation (1).

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(The n space corresponds to the momentum space since k =

π
n .Thus the combinations can give the picture of particles
L
moving in different directions.) When nx, ny and nz are equal
the energy state is unique and is nondegenerate. It is also
noted that the energy states can be degenerate with
degeneracy of 3 when two of the three nx, ny and nz are equal
and degeneracy of 6 when all the three are not equal.
The distribution of energy states depending of the
combinations of nx, ny and nz can be evaluated analyzing the
n space formed by nx, ny and nz.
It is observed that every combination of nx, ny and nz gives
additional unit volume in n space from which we conclude
that evaluating the number of states is equivalent to
evaluating the volume of the n space.
It is also noticed that the degenerate energy states with the
same energy values lie on the surface of an octant of a
sphere with the center at the origin. Hence it is sufficient to
find the volume of the octant of a sphere of radius R to evaluate the number of energy states up to
R i.e., the combination of nx, ny and nz.
The sensitivity of the increase in the states with increasing nx, ny and nz can be found from the
change in the volume of the octant if the radius changes from R to R+dR realizing that R >>dR.
πR2 dR
The volume of the shell of thickness dR is then given by 2
. This is also then the number of
energy states available between R and R+dR.
𝐄𝐧 𝐝𝐄
The energy expression En = Eo R2 gives us 𝐑𝟐 = 𝐄𝐨
and 𝐝𝐑 = 𝟏
𝟐{𝐄𝐧 𝐄𝐨 } ⁄𝟐

Therefore the number of energy states between E and E+dE is given by

𝟏
𝛑𝐑𝟐 𝐝𝐑 𝛑 𝐄𝐧 𝐝𝐄 𝛑 𝐄𝐧 ⁄𝟐
= = . 𝟑 𝐝𝐄
𝟐 𝟒 𝐄𝐨 {𝐄 𝐄 }𝟏⁄𝟐 𝟒 𝐄 ⁄𝟐
𝐧 𝐨 𝐨
h2
Substituting for Eo = 8mL2 we get the number of energy states between E and E+dE as
𝟑⁄
𝛑 𝟖𝐦𝐋𝟐 𝟐
𝟏⁄
.( 𝟐 ) 𝐄 𝟐 . 𝐝𝐄
𝟒 𝐡
The number of electrons states per unit volume can be estimated taking into consideration the
Pauli’s exclusion principle and allowing two electrons with opposite spins in each energy state.
The density of states for electrons in a metal gives the number of electron states per unit volume
with energy E
𝟑
𝛑 𝟖𝐦 𝟐 𝟏
𝐠(𝐄)𝐝𝐄 = ( ) 𝐄𝟐
𝟐 𝐡𝟐
𝐝𝐄

This shows that the distribution of electrons in energy states vary non- linearly with increasing
energy E.

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 Unit II : Quantum Mechanics of Simple systems 2023

Numericals

1. Electrons with energies of 4.00 eV are incident on a potential step 3.0 eV high. Find the
probability of reflection at x=0 and transmission for x>0. (Ans R= ;T =19.20%)

2. A proton with energy E is incident on a potential step of height 3.5eV. If the de Broglie
wavelength of the particle after transmission is 1.228 nm, find the energy of the proton.

3. A beam of identical electrons is incident on a barrier 6.0 eV high and 2 nm wide. Find the
energy of the electrons if 1% of the electrons are to get through the barrier.(Ans =5.963eV)

4. An electron and a proton with the same energy E approach a potential barrier whose height U
is greater than E. Comment on their tunneling probability.

5. A current beam 10 pico amperes (of identical electrons) is incident on a barrier 5.0 eV high
and 1 nm wide. Find the transmitted current strength if the energy of the electrons is
4.9ev.(Ans = T=3.93% Transmitted current = 10pA *.0393 = 0.393pA)

6. Show that the probability of finding a particle trapped in an infinite potential well between x
and x+Δx is approx Δx/L and is independent of x.

7. Find the probability that a particle in a box of width L can be found between 0 and L/n when
the particle is in the nth state

8. A particle in an infinite potential well of width a. Find the probability of finding the particle
between a/3 and 2a/3 in the ground and third excited states. (Ans:)

9. What is the minimum energy of an electron trapped in a one dimensional region the size of an
atomic nucleus (1 x 10-14 m)? (Ans 3.77 Gev)

10. Find the energy required to excite a particle in a box of width ‘a’ from the second excited state
to the fifth state. ()

11. Show that the probability of occupancy of an energy level ΔE above the Fermi level is the same as that
of the probability of non-occupancy of an energy level ΔE below the Fermi level.
12. Estimate the probability of occupancy of an energy level 0.1 eV above the Fermi level for Copper with
Ef = 7.0eV for i) 100K ii) 300K iii) 1000K
13. Find the temperatures at which the occupancy of an energy state 0.3 eV above the Fermi level has an
occupancy probability of i) 0.01 and ii) 0.05

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Contents

1. Review of classical free electron theory

2. Drawbacks of the classical free electron theory
a. Temperature dependence of resistivity
b. Specific heat of electrons in a metal
c. Conductivity variations with electron concentrations
3. Concepts of quantum free electron theory
4. Fermi Dirac statistics and Fermi factor
5. Density of states of valence electrons in a metal
6. Merits of the quantum free electron theory and short comings
a. Temperature dependence of resistivity
b. Specific heat of electrons in a metal
c. Wiedemann-Franz law
d. Hall effect in certain metals
7. Bloch Theorem and Electron wave functions in a periodic potential
8. Origin of energy bands – metals insulators and semiconductors
9. Effective mass of charge carriers.

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1 Basics of CFET, expressions for electrical parameters

Drude and Lorentz proposed the classical free electron theory of electrical conductivity of metals
(as early as 1904). The model of conductivity of free electrons is based on the following
assumptions:

(1) The valence electrons of the atoms of the metal

contribute to the conduction process either electrical or
thermal. The electrons move in an array of ion cores
(which are nuclei surrounded by inner electrons excluding
the valance electrons). All the valance electrons are free
electrons and are treated as conduction electrons which
are in a state of random motion (like the molecules in an
ideal gas).

(2) The effect of positive ion cores on the electrons is considered to be constant and hence
neglected.

(3) The electrostatic repulsion between the electrons is neglected.

(4) The electrons in the metal are considered equivalent to molecules in a gas and the gas
laws are made applicable to the electrons in a metal. Accordingly, the distribution of
energy and velocity is assumed to follow Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics.

The average velocity of electrons in the metal is dependent on the temperature of the metal

and is termed as the thermal velocity of electrons √ . At 300K the thermal velocity of
the electrons is .
However this random motion of the electrons do not contribute to a net drift of electrons
across the metal and hence no current flows through the material
The conduction electrons in the lattice are scattered by collisions with the ionic cores and
other electrons. The mean time between collisions is the relaxation time of the electrons in the
metal and the distance between successive collisions is the mean free path. Taking the mean
lattice parameter of 10nm as the mean free path , the relaxation time can be estimated
as .

Drift Velocity : In the presence of an Electric field E the electrons show a net drift across the
metal in a direction opposite to that of the electric field. The velocity of the electrons across
the metal in the presence is known as the drift velocity .
The force equation for the electron’s motion can be described by where
the last term accounts for the loss of energy due to the scattering which is proportional to the
momentum of the electrons and k is the coefficient of scattering loss.
In the equilibrium condition this leads to an average velocity for the electrons which is the drift
velocity

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Dimensionally k should be (time)-1.

The decay of the drift velocity to zero in the absence of the electric field yields that
where is the relaxation time – the time between successive collisions or the time for the drift
velocity to fall to 1/e times its steady value in the presence of an electric field.

The drift velocity where is the electron mobility or the charge

carrier mobility. The mobility is the drift velocity per unit electric field.

The drift velocity of electrons is extremely low compared to the thermal velocity. To illustrate,
the drift velocity of electrons experiencing an electric field of 1V/m is of the order of 10-4 ms-1.
Expression for Electrical conductivity:
The current through a conductor with an electron concentration n of cross section A and
length L at an applied electric field E can be evaluated as

where is the drift velocity given by

or where is a constant for a given metal and is the

conductivity of the metal

The resistivity of the metal is .

Thus the resistivity of a metal is inversely proportional to the concentration of free electrons
and the relaxation time of electrons in the metal.

2 Experimental temperature dependence of the resistivity

Experiments show that resistivity of metals in general vary
linearly with temperature in the normal operating temperatures.
At these temperatures the resistivity results from the
scattering of the electrons moving with high thermal velocities in
random directions.
However at very low temperatures the resistivity is found
to saturate to a non zero finite value, which is dependent on the
impurity concentration in the metal.
Hence two independent types of resistivities determine the total resistivity of the metal. Since the
phenomena are independent of each other the net resistivity would be the sum of the two
resistivity components which is known as the Mattheissen’s rule.

Hence . This gives us the effective relaxation time as

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3 Draw backs of CFET and quantum corrections.

The classical free electron theory failed to correlate the experimental results of many a
phenomena such as the temperature dependence of resistivity, specific heat of electrons etc.

a. According to the classical free electron theory the resistivity of a metal is given by .
For a given material the temperature dependence of resistivity arises from the temperature
dependence of the relaxation time . Since the mean free path of the electrons is
assumed to be a constant for a wide range of metals, the temperature dependence of the

thermal velocity should affect the relaxation time. For a given temperature √ and

hence √ . Since the resistivity , the temperature dependence of

resistivity can be inferred to be √ . But experimental observations show that
and hence the classical free electron conduction model fails to explain the correct
temperature dependence of resistivity of metals.

b. The contribution of electrons to the specific heat of the metal can be estimated using the
principle that the specific heat .
Considering one mole of a mono valent metal, the energy of the valence electrons is given
by U =

Hence the specific heat of the electrons should be equal to

which is a constant.

However experimental estimation of the specific heat of electrons is only approximately

1% of the theoretical value and is also found to be temperature dependent. Thus, the
theory fails to explain the actual specific heat dependence of electrons in metals.

c. The electrical conductivity of metals, given by , should be dependent on the free

electron concentration for a given temperature, assuming that the relaxation time is more
or less constant. However, it found that mono valent Copper with lesser electronic
concentration has a higher electrical conductivity as compared to trivalent Aluminum.
Similarly Zinc with higher electronic concentration has lesser conductivity than Aluminum.
Experimental results show that there is no linear dependence of the electronic
concentration on the conductivity of metals.

Thus, the classical free electron theory fails to explain the experimental observations. It is
obvious that some of the assumptions of the CFET are over estimations or under estimations of
the physical parameters and hence need to be corrected.

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4 Quantum model of valence electrons in a metal - Fermi energy

Metals have a very high concentration of valence electrons
. According to the quantum mechanical principles these
valence electrons in a metal have to be in discrete energy states
following Pauli’s exclusion principle. This requires the energy states
of the atomic levels to split into discrete closely spaced energy states
to accommodate all the valence electrons. At 0K such an
arrangement leads to a sea of energy levels which have a separation
as small as . The upper most occupied energy state at 0K
is then termed as the Fermi energy of the metal. Thus at 0K all the
states below the Fermi energy are filled and all the states about the
Fermi energy are empty.
By convention electrons above the Fermi level should contribute to
the conduction process and the valence electrons are below the
Fermi level. (The electrons in states below the Fermi level do not
contribute to the conduction process). Thus according to this model
not all the valence electrons in a metal are conduction electrons.
The effective number of electrons above the Fermi level could be
approximated as .

The effective number of electrons above the Fermi level for copper (Ef=7eV) at 300K can be
calculated to be . Thus a small fraction of the available
valence electrons are excited into states above the Fermi level, which contribute to the
conductivity of the material.
This quantum model of the free electrons gives rise to the following modifications to the classical
free electron theory:
 The valence electrons in the metal are arranged in discrete energy states following
Pauli’s exclusion principle. Only electrons close to the Fermi level participate in the
conduction process
 The occupation probability of the electron states are described by the Fermi Dirac
distribution function applicable to fermions.
 The conduction electrons in a metal move in array of positive ions, colliding with the ionic
centers and other electrons resulting in the resistance of the material.

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 The electrostatic interactions namely, the electron – electron interaction and the electron
– ion interactions are negligible.
 The electrons undergo random scattering due to the vibrating ionic centers giving rise to
resistance to flow of electrons.

5 Fermi Dirac statistics, Fermi factor

The occupation probabilities of electrons in the different energy state at different temperatures are
estimated using the Fermi Dirac statistics for Fermions. (All particles with spin are classified as
Fermions. Fermions follow the Fermi Dirac statistics for particles which are indistinguishable.)

The Fermi factor gives the probability of an energy state E to be occupied at a

( )
( )

temperature T
Estimation of the Fermi factor at T=0K gives distinct results for E<Ef and E >Ef.

 If E<Ef then for E-Ef is negative, then the Fermi factor .

( )
( )

At 0K this becomes ( ) . This implies that at 0K

( )
all electron states below the Fermi level are filled states.
 If E>Ef then for E-Ef is positive, then the Fermi factor
.
( )
( )

At 0K this becomes . This implies that at 0K

( ( ) )
all electron states above the Fermi level are empty states.
 For T>0 and E=Ef the Fermi factor . This gives a
( )
( )

probability of occupation of 50% for the Fermi energy.

The Fermi energy has a weak temperature dependence and is given by

[ ( ) ]

where Efo is the Fermi energy at zero Kelvin. At normal temperature ranges the ratio of is
very low and hence can be approximated to be a constant equal to the value at zero Kelvin.

6 Fermi temperature
The arrangement of electrons in discrete energy states leads to the concept that only electrons
near the Fermi energy are excited into the conduction band and it may be really difficult to excite
all the valence electrons into the conduction band. If the temperature of the metal is T then kBT

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is the thermal energy available to the electrons in the metal. The thermal energy required to
excite the last electron at the bottom of the energy band if termed as k BTf, then at temperature Tf
the electron would have an energy . This temperature is termed as the Fermi
temperature of electrons in the metal.
Evaluating the temperature for Copper with Fermi energy as 7 eV gives the value of the Fermi
temperature as approximately 81000K. It is obvious that at such high temperatures the metal
cannot be in the solid state and hence this is only a representative temperature which highlights
the point that all valence electrons cannot be conduction electrons.

7 Fermi velocity
From the above analysis it is clear that only a small fraction of electrons close to the conduction
band can be taking part in the conduction processes. The electrons excited into the conduction
band have energies very close to the Fermi energy. These conduction electrons then possess
a kinetic energy which may be equal to the Fermi energy.

The kinetic energy of the electrons near the Fermi energy is where the Fermi

velocity of conduction electrons is √ . Fermi velocity for conduction electrons in Copper

gives .
This velocity is greater than the thermal velocity of electrons (as per the CFET). The electrons
in the conduction band are in a state of random motion and the scattering of the electrons by the
lattice is the origin of the electrical resistance of the metal.

8 Density of states derivation

The electrons in a metal can be approximated to the particle in a box in
three dimensions, since under normal conditions the electrons cannot
escape the boundaries of the metal. Consider a mono-valent metal in the L
form of a cube of side L. Inside the metal the electrons can be assumed to
be moving in a zero potential field. L
The three dimensional Schrödinger’s wave equation can be written as three L
one dimensional Schrödinger’s wave equation and their corresponding
solutions analysed.
The x component of the particle motion can be described by the wave function which is the
solution of the SWE
( )
( )

This gives the Eigen energy value for the x component as

Similarly the energy in the other two dimensions can be evaluated as

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The total energy of the electron can be written as

h
( ) --------- (1) where

The number of states with energy E can be evaluated by studying the variation of the
combinations of nx, ny and nz. It can be deduced that every combination of nx, ny and nz result in
an energy state as per equation (1).

(The n space corresponds to the momentum space since .Thus the combinations can
give the picture of particles moving in different directions.) When nx, ny and nz are equal the
energy state is unique and is non degenerate. It is also noted that the energy states can be
degenerate with degeneracy of 3 when two of the three nx, ny and nz are equal and degeneracy
of 6 when all the three are not equal.
The distribution of energy states depending of the
combinations of nx, ny and nz can be evaluated analyzing the
n space formed by nx, ny and nz.
It is observed that every combination of nx, ny and nz gives
additional unit volume in n space from which we conclude
that evaluating the number of states is equivalent to
evaluating the volume of the n space.
It is also noticed that the degenerate energy states with the
same energy values lie on the surface of an octant of a sphere with the center at the origin.
Hence it is sufficient to find the volume of the octant of a sphere of radius R to evaluate the
number of energy states up to R i.e., the combination of nx, ny and nz.
The sensitivity of the increase in the states with increasing nx, ny and nz can be found from the
change in the volume of the octant if the radius changes from R to R+dR realizing that R >>dR.

The volume of the shell of thickness dR is then given by . This is also then the number of
energy states available between R and R+dR.

The energy expression gives us and

{ } ⁄

Therefore the number of energy states between E and E+dE is given by

⁄

⁄ ⁄
{ }
h
Substituting for we get the number of energy states between E and E+dE as

⁄
⁄
( )

The number of electrons states per unit volume can be estimated taking into consideration the
Pauli’s exclusion principle and allowing two electrons with opposite spins in each energy state.

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The density of states for electrons in a metal gives the number of electron states per unit
volume with energy E

( ) ( )

This shows that the distribution of electrons in energy

states vary non- linearly with increasing energy E.
The probability that an energy state is occupied is given
by the fermi factor

( )

And hence the occupancy of the states described by N(E) is determined by the factor
( ) ( )
This in effect is multiplying g(E) by a number between 0 and 1 depending on the position of the
energy relative to the Fermi energy and the temperature.
The states below Ef – kBT are completely occupied as Fd
is 1.
The states in the range of kBT below the Fermi level are
emptied and the probability of occupancy Fd is between
1 and 0.5.
The states above Ef in a range kBT are now occupied
and the probability of occupancy lies between 0.50 and
0.00.
The variation of N(E) with E can be graphically
represented as shown for a representative material with Fermi energy of 5eV.

9 Expression for Fermi energy, average electron energy

The Fermi energy of metals can be evaluated from the fact that all available electrons occupy
energy levels below the Fermi level Ef at 0K. This means that the density of occupied states
( ) ( ) when evaluated for all levels from 0 to Ef, should result in the total count of
electrons in the metal, ie.,

The total free electronic concentration ∫ ( ) ∫ ( ) .

We know that Fd has to be 1 for all energy levels below Ef at 0K and hence

⁄
∫ ( ) ∫ ( ) ( ) ∫ ( )
h h

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Unit III: Application of Quantum Mechanics to Electrical Transport in Solids 2021

This gives us a method of estimating the Fermi energy of the system if the number of valence
electrons per unit volume is known.
The Fermi energy can be estimated if the concentration of free electrons is know and can be
evaluated as
⁄
h ⁄
( ) ( )

Average energy of electrons in a metal at 0K

Since the distribution of electrons in the different energy states shows a non linear variation, the
average energy of the electron is not the simple average of the electron’s max and min energy.
From the graph of N(E) vs E we observe that N(E) states have energy E which implies that the
total energy of all electrons in filled states upto Ef should the summation of all N(E)*E

The average energy of the electron =

∫ ( ) ( ) ∫

∫ ( )
( ) ∫

This on integration gives the average energy

Merits of Quantum free electron theory:

Heat capacity due to free electrons
The electronic specific heat (contribution to the specific heat from the conduction electrons) can
be evaluated in the light of the fact that only electrons close to the Fermi level participate in the
conduction. Hence the heat absorption happens due to that fraction of electrons. This number
can be estimated as the effective number of electrons (in one mole of the metal for a mono
valent metal) in the conduction process as .

Hence if the average thermal energy of the electrons is taken to be then the total energy
of electrons in one mole of the material

Hence the specific heat

Thus, the electronic specific heat is a fraction of the value predicted by the CFET (since is a
fraction less than 1% for most metals) and is temperature dependent . This analysis gives the
correct correlation with the experimental results.

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A more accurate evaluation of the electronic specific heat of mono valent metals (using the
ideas of the number of electrons in the levels above Ef and their average energy values) results
in the relation

Temperature dependence of the resistivity

According to the classical free electron theory resistivity of the electrons originates from the
scattering mechanism in which the ionic centers are stationary.
The quantum free electron theory takes into account the thermal vibrations of the ionic array
which accounts for the scattering of electrons. The amplitude of the random vibrations of the
lattice ions is proportional to temperature When the ions vibrate the lattice presents an effective
cross sectional area for scattering of where r is the amplitude of vibration. But the
increasing amplitude also result in an increase in the probability of electron scattering.
Thus the mean free path λ of the electrons reduces with increasing temperature. The electron
mean free path λ is inversely proportional to the scattering cross section and hence

The expression for conductivity shows that the conductivity is proportional to

the mean free path. Hence the conductivity will be inversely proportional to temperature or
resistivity as is found experimentally.
Relation between electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity (Wiedemann-Franz law
and Lorenz number)
From the discussions of the electronic arrangement it is obvious that the electrons close to the
Fermi energy are responsible for the electrical or thermal conduction and hence it should be
possible to find a relation between the two seeming different physical phenomena.

It is known that the thermal conductivity of the metal

Where C is the electronic specific heat given by ,

V the volume, v is the velocity of electrons and L the mean free path. The mean free path of
electrons is given by . Taking velocity to be the Fermi velocity (since most of the
conduction electrons are located about the Fermi energy) the expression for the thermal
conductivity can be written as

where is the concentration of free electrons.

The electrical conductivity of the metal is then given by

The ratio of the thermal conductivity to electrical conductivity can be calculated as

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This is the Wiedemann-Franz law. It was noticed by Lorenz that the ratio is a
constant irrespective of the metal and is called the Lorenz number.
The Lorenz number has a value = 2.4 x10-8 WΩK-2.
Short comings of quantum free electron theory
The quantum free electron theory though successful in giving correct dependencies of some of
the electrical parameters and the specific heat of electrons, was not able to explain
Differences in conduction in metal, semiconductor and insulator, and the origin of the band gap
in semiconductors and insulators are not explained.
Experimentally observed positive Hall co-efficient observed in some metals like Zinc,
Magnesium, lead etc.
These demerits could be reflective of the real potentials of the ionic centers in the lattice which
was ignored in the development of the model. The presence of the potentials can significantly
affect the wave function of the electrons.
11. Motion of electron in periodic potential (one dimensional treatment)
The free electrons in a metal are not free from electrostatic potentials and move in a periodic
potential due to the regular arrangement of the ionic centers.
The potential is lower close to the positive ions in the lattice (and in some cases basis)
positions. The electrons experience a potential with the same periodicity as the lattice. The
columbic potential in the real crystal can be approximated by rectangular potentials.
If V(x) is the potential at x then, it can be seen from the figure that
( ) ( ) which means that the potential is
periodic and invariant under the translation through
the lattice parameter.
However, the wave function of the free electrons
( ) is modulated by the periodic
potential and can be written as
( ) ( ) where k is the wave number of
the electron waves. This is known as the Bloch function.

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Kronig Penny model, allowed energy zones/energy

bands
In the Kronig-Penney model the periodic potential is
approximated as a long chain of coupled finite square
wells, of barrier height Vo, with a period ‘a’, and barrier
thickness c.
The wave function of the electron is a modulated wave
of the form ( ) ( ).
A solution to the Schrödinger’s equation exists if the
dispersive wave number of the electron k is related to
the energy through the equation:
( )
( ) ( )

( )
where √ . We notice that the above is a
transcendental equation and has approximate solutions.
The left hand side of the equation is bound with upper and
lower limits of +1 to -1.
The right side of the equation has oscillations of decreasing
amplitude with increasing . However, the solutions exist
only for those allowed range of . Thus, there exists a
range of allowed energy states and forbidden energy states.
In the limit tends to infinity ( ) which implies and hence the energy
.

In the limit tends to zero ( ) which implies and hence the energy
which is the solution for a free particle.
The E(k) –k diagram for the system show discontinuity in the
energy at the zone boundary of . (The parabolic
variation of E for the free electrons is shown for comparison).
Since the functions are symmetric (and periodic with period
of ), it is possible to represent the energy band diagram in a
single zone of .
The lowest allowed energy state is non-zero. The lowest band
is the completely filled inner band followed by a band of
forbidden energy states (shaded).
The next band of allowed states represents the valence band.
The upper most occupied states form the conduction band.

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Thus, we observe allowed and forbidden energy states for the electrons in the material.
Materials are then classified as metals, semiconductors or insulators on the basis of the Fermi
energy of the material.
In the case of conductors, the Fermi level is in the uppermost band the conduction band. All
states below the Fermi level are filled and all levels above the Fermi energy are empty. Thus,
metal are characterized by a partially filled conduction band.
In the case of materials with a completely filled valence band and completely empty conduction
band, the Fermi energy is theoretically the midpoint of the energy band gaps. Materials with
energy gap of 3-5 eV are classified as semiconductors. At normal temperatures it is possible for
the electrons in the valence band to move into the conduction in the case of metals and
semiconductors.
Materials with energy band gap greater than 5eV are classified as Insulators in which the electron
conduction is impossible and attempts to excite the electrons lead to a
dielectric breakdown.
Concept of Effective mass
The motion of electrons in the crystal is governed by the energy
equation which shows that the energy is nonlinearly
dependent on the propagation constant k.
Differentiating the expression twice with respect to k

it is observed that ( ) is not a constant and depends on

the non linearity of E. This means that the charge carriers have an
effective mass which depends on the curvature of E-k.

Higher curvature (larger ) means smaller effective mass and

smaller curvature results in higher effective mass.
It can be seen that the slope of the E-K curve is minimum at the band
edges and hence the effective mass of the charge carriers are highest at the band edges.
Since curvature of the E-k is positive in the conduction band the effective mass is +ve and the
curvature in the valence band is negative indicating a negative mass. However, this can be
construed to be the motion of a charge carrier with a charge of the
opposite type as that of electrons. This leads to the concept of hole
conduction in the valence band. The effective mass of electrons can
be higher or lower than the rest mass of the electrons and depends on
the position of the electron in the particular band.
The concept of the effective mass helps understand the mobility of
charge carriers in a system particularly in semiconductors. In most
compound semiconductors the effective mass of electrons and holes
are much smaller than the rest mass of electrons. These materials
exhibit a higher mobility of charge carriers.

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Superconductivity
Superconductivity was first discovered by H. Kammerlingh Onnes in 1911 while studying the
resistivity of Mercury. He observed that if Mercury is cooled below 4.1K its electrical resistance
falls by a factor of 106. This drastic increase in the conductivity in certain metals has been termed
superconductivity. The temperature at which the conductivity of the metal increases sharply is
known as the transition temperature Tc. About 30 metals exhibit superconductivity, with
superconducting transition temperatures between 0K and 9.3K.
Some of the key observations about superconductors are:
 Superconductivity is not observed in Mono valent metals
 The phenomena is exhibited by metals for which the valence electrons number are
between 2 & 6.
 Metals which are highly resistive at normal temperatures show superconductivity at very
low temperatures.
 The current in the super conductor persists for a long time of the order of 105 years.
 Superconductivity is destroyed by a high magnetic field or excessive currents through the
superconductor.
 Ferromagnetic and anti ferromagnetic materials are not superconductors
Meissner effect.
A superconducting material when subjected to a magnetic field and cooled to temperatures
below the critical temperatures, it expels the magnetic lines of flux from its interior. The
material then behaves as a perfect diamagnetic. This effect is called the Meissner effect.
When the material is in the normal conducting state, it allows the magnetic lines of force to
pass through the material.
Critical Field
A critical temperature Tc of superconducting material is dependent
on the strength of the external magnetic fields. The presence of a
strong external field drives the material into the normal conducting
state. The strength of the magnetic field at which the material
loses it superconducting state is known as the Critical Field Hc.
The critical field strength is temperature dependent and is related
to the Critical temperature by the relation

[ ( ) ]

Type I and type II superconductors

Superconductors are classified into two major categories as type I and type II superconductors
based on the Meissner effect exhibited by the material.

Type I superconductors are generally pure metals which behave

like a perfect diamagnetic material in the superconducting state
(exhibiting a complete Meissner effect).
In the case of type I superconductors the critical temperature is
dependent on the magnitude of an applied external magnetic field.
Higher magnetic fields lower the critical field at which the material

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remains as a super conductor as shown.

External fields tend to induce magnetization in the material. The induced negative magnetic
moment of the material increases with the applied external magnetic fields in the superconducting
state. At the critical magnetic field, the material loses diamagnetic behavior, and the net magnetic
moment falls to zero. The critical magnetic field strength for Type I superconductors is low.

Type I superconductors are also known as soft superconductors.

Type II superconductors are generally alloys of different metals.
They were found to have much higher critical fields and therefore
could carry much higher current densities while remaining in the
superconducting state.

External magnetic fields induce magnetization of the material in the

superconducting state and remain in the normal superconducting
state up to a critical field Hc1. As the field is increased further, it is
observed that the material partially allows the magnetic lines of
force to penetrate the material, indicating the simultaneous
presence of normal and superconducting states in the material up
to a second critical field Hc2 beyond which the material reverts
back to its normal conducting states.

BCS theory

The properties of Type I superconductors were modeled successfully by the efforts of John
Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and Robert Schrieffer in what is commonly called the BCS theory. A key
conceptual element in this theory is the pairing of electrons close to the Fermi level into Cooper
pairs through interaction with the crystal lattice. This pairing results from a slight attraction
between the electrons related to lattice vibrations; the coupling of the electrons to the lattice is
called a phonon interaction.

Electron pairs behave very differently from single electrons (which are fermions and must obey
the Pauli exclusion principle), whereas electron pairs act more like bosons (which can condense
into the same energy level).

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The electron pairs have a slightly lower energy and hence are delicately stable. The pairs require
an energy of about 0.001eV to be separated which is referred to as the energy gap for the paired
state to the unpaired state.

In the paired state the charge carriers do not show the kind of collision interactions which lead to
ordinary resistivity. Below the critical temperature, the system is then in an extremely low resistive
state.

Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer received the Nobel Prize in 1972 for the development of the
theory of superconductivity.

Applications of Superconductivity:

Superconductors find extensive applications in a variety of fields. Some of the significant

applications are :

SQUIDs which are superconducting quantum interference devices are capable of sensing
extremely weak magnetic fields. They form the sensors in the MRI scanning used in the medical
fields.

Strong magnets made using superconducting materials are used for magnetic levitation. Such
magnets also form the core of the magnetic confinement that is required to contain the plasma in
fusion experiments.

Superconducting systems are potential candidates for creating QUBITs which are fundamental to
creating quantum computers.

Research is on to create room temperature superconductors which can then reduce the loss of
energy in power transmission.

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Solved Numericals:

1. Estimate the Fermi factor of an energy state 0.01eV below the Fermi level at 500K
The Fermi factor ( )
gives the probability of occupancy of an energy state E above or
below the Fermi energy at temperature T.
The Fermi factor for an energy state 0.01 eV below the Fermi level at 500 K
fd= 1/(e^(((-0.01*〖1.6x10〗^(-19))/(1.38x 10^(-23)*500)) )+1) =0.558

2. If the Fermi energy of the metal is 3.75 eV calculate the molar specific heat at 500 K
The molar electronic specific heat is given by Cel= dU/dT=3.Na/Ef .kB2 T
At 500K the electronic specific heat = 0.29 J/mol

3. Determine the free electron concentration, the Fermi velocity for electrons in a metal with Fermi
energy of 5.10 eV.
The concentration of free electrons in a metal is related to the Fermi energy as
n ( )
For E=5.10eV n = 5.211 X 1028 m-3.
The Fermi velocity of electrons is given by E_f= 1/2 m〖v_f〗^2 Hence v_f=√((2E_f)/m) =1.34 x 106
ms-1.
4. A mono valent metal has 5 x 1028 valence electrons per m3. Estimate the number of electron energy
states per unit volume in the metal between 2eV and 2.005eV from the concept of the density of
states.
The density of states for electrons in a metal gives the number of electron states per unit volume with

energy E ( ) ( )

E =2.00eV dE = 0.005eV
Hence g(E)dE= π/2 (8m/h^2 )^(3/2) E^(1/2) dE = 4.80 x 1025 per m3.

Problem set
1. A certain conductor has a free electron concentration of 5.9 x 10 28 m -3. What current density in
the conductor will correspond to a drift velocity of 1/1.6 mm s-1? Calculate the mobility of charge
carriers given conductivity as 6.22x107 (Ωm)-1. (Ans :
2. Calculate the free electron concentration, mobility and drift velocity of electrons in an Al wire of
diameter 0.5mm, length 5m, resistance of 60 milli ohms that carries a current of 15A . Al has 3
free electrons At wt of Al=26.98 and density 2.7 x 103 kg m-3.

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3. Find the relaxation time and mobility of conduction electrons in a metal having 6.5 x 1028 electrons
m-3 if the resistivity of the metal is 1.43x 10-8 ohm m
4. There are 1020 electrons per m-3 in a material having a resistivity of 0.1 ohm -m. Find the charge
mobility and the electric field needed to produce a drift velocity of 1ms-1.
5. A copper wire of radius 1mm and length 10 meter carries a direct current of 5 ampere. Calculate
the drift velocity of electrons in copper if n = 5 × 1028/m3.
6. Silver has a density of 10.5 x 103 Kgm-3 and atomic weight of 107.9. If conductivity of silver at 27o C
is 6.8 x 107 (ohm-m)-1, find the mean free path of electrons as per the classical free electron
theory.
7. Calculate the relaxation time of conduction electrons in a metal of resistivity of 1.55 x 10-8 Ω – m
and an electronic concentration of 6 x 1028 per m3.
8. Show that the probability of occupancy of an energy level ΔE above the Fermi level is the same as
that of the probability of non-occupancy of an energy level ΔE below the Fermi level.
9. Estimate the probability of occupancy of an energy level 0.1 eV above the Fermi level for Copper
with Ef = 7.0eV for i) 100K ii) 300K iii) 1000K
10. Find the temperatures at which the occupancy of an energy state 0.3 eV above the Fermi level has
an occupancy probability of i) 0.01 and ii) 0.05
11. Calculate the Fermi energy of electrons in a mono valent metal with atomic weight 132.9 x 10-3 kg
/ mol and density of 1.9 x 103 kg/m3 at 0K.
12. Estimate the energy for which the probability of occupation at 300K is 0.1 for copper with Fermi
energy of 7.0eV. Comment on the probability of this level to be 0.5.
13. The Fermi temperature of two metals A and B are in the ratio 1.103. If the electron concentration
of metal A is 5.86x1028 m-3, find the Fermi velocity of electrons in metal B. (Ans: 1.325 x 106 ms-
1.)
14. Calculate the density of states with energy between 4eV and 4.005eV in copper with Fermi energy
of 7.02eV.( E = 4eV = 4*1.6x10-19 J and dE = .005*1.6x10-19 J mass of electron = 9.1x 10-31 kg )

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

Contents

1. Introduction to Magnetic materials

i. Magnetisation
ii. Susceptibility
iii. Classification of magnetic materials on Susceptibility

2. Atomic origin of magnetization

i. Dipole moments associated with atoms
ii. Orbital and spin angular momenta
iii. Larmor precession

3. Diamagnetic materials

4. Paramagnetic materials
i. Quantum interpretation of paramagnetism
ii. Brillouin function
iii. Curie’s law
iv. Weiss’ molecular field concept

5. Ferro magnetic materials

i. Ferromagnetism
ii. Anti-ferromagnetism
iii. Ferrimagnetism
iv. Giant Magneto Resistance

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

1. Introduction to Magnetic Materials

Every material when placed in an external
magnetic field H responds in different The first truly scientific study of magnetism was made by the
Englishman William Gilbert (1540–1603), who published his
magnitudes and different ways. Some materials classic book On the Magnet in 1600. He experimented with
get magnetized either temporarily or lodestones (magnetite) and iron magnets, formed a clear
picture of the Earth’s magnetic field, and cleared away many
permanently, others do not get magnetized but superstitions that had clouded the subject. From his
repulse the external magnetic fields. Materials experiments, he concluded that the Earth was itself magnetic
and that this was the reason compasses pointed north
are classified according to the magnetization (previously, some believed that it was the pole star (Polaris)
state of the material. or a large magnetic island on the north pole that attracted the
compass).
The intensity of magnetization (M) of a material
The existence of isolated magnetic poles, or monopoles, is not
is defined as the dipole moment per unit volume forbidden by any known law of nature, and serious efforts to
of the material. find monopoles have been made [P. A. M. Dirac, Proc. R.
Soc. Lond., A133 (1931) p. 60; H. Jeon and M. J. Longo,
𝒎∗𝟐𝒍 𝒎 Phys. Rev. Lett., 75 (1995) pp. 1443–1446]. The search has
𝑴= 𝟐𝒍∗𝒂
= 𝒂
which is the dipole strength per not so far been successful.
unit area of cross section.
The magnetization of the material 𝑴 = 𝝌𝒎 𝑯
where the magnetic susceptibility 𝝌𝒎 of the material is the ratio of the magnetization B to the magnetic
𝑴
field H ie., 𝝌𝒎 =
𝑯

Consider a long solenoid of length l with air as the core and having n
turns. The magnetic field strength when a current I flows through the
𝒏𝑰
solenoid 𝑯 = 𝒍
A/m.

The magnetic flux density 𝑩𝒐 = 𝝁𝒐 𝑯 Tesla (Wb /m2)

Where 𝝁𝒐 = 𝟒𝝅 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟕 𝑯/𝒎 or (𝟒𝝅 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟕 TmA-1)
When a material of susceptibility 𝝌𝒎 is introduced inside the
solenoid the total magnetic flux of the system is the sum of the flux
due to the coil and the flux due to the magnetization of the material.
𝑩 = 𝝁𝒐 𝑯 + 𝝁𝒐 𝑴 = 𝝁𝒐 (𝑯 + 𝑴) = 𝝁𝒐 (𝑯 + 𝝌𝒎 𝑯) = 𝝁𝒐 (𝟏 + 𝝌𝒎 )𝑯
Defining the relative permeability of the material 𝝁𝒓 = (𝟏 + 𝝌𝒎 )
The magnetic flux density B = 𝝁𝒐 𝝁𝒓 𝑯 = 𝝁𝑯 , where
Typical B-H curves for magnetic materials
𝝁 = 𝝁𝒐 𝝁𝒓 is the permeability of the material.
150
Magnetic materials can be classified on their
Diamagnetic
susceptibility to be magnetized by an external 100
Paramagnetic
magnetic field and on their relative permeability.
B Ferromagnetic
50
Materials with susceptibilities less than 0
(𝝌𝒎 𝑛𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒) are classified as diamagnetic materials.
0
They tend to repel the lines of force of the external
0 2 4 6 8
magnetic field. The diamagnetic susceptibilities are in H
-50
the range of -10-3 to -10-6. Diamagnetic materials
possess a relative permeability less than 1.

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

Materials with a small positive susceptibility >0 (𝝌𝒎 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒) are classified as paramagnetic materials.
Paramagnetic materials tend to show feeble magnetization in the presence of an external field. The
susceptibility of the material is of the order of 10-4 to 10-5 and relative permeability is slightly more than 1.
Materials with a large positive susceptibility>>0 (𝝌𝒎 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒) are classified as ferromagnetic
materials. Ferromagnetic materials are easily magnetized in the presence of an external magnetic field and
exhibit a large relative permeability of the order of 105-106.
2. Origin of Magnetism in materials
Any current loop creates a magnetic field with the direction of the current deciding the direction of the
field. It is imperative that the atomic level currents due to the electrons in the orbits could result in
magnetic fields. The spin of the electrons can also be one of the major contributors to the magnetization
in materials. In addition, there is also a feeble contribution from the nuclei as well which could be neglected
for all practical evaluations. The net contribution from an atom to the magnetization would depend on the
magnitudes of the individual components and the statistical behavior of the collection of atoms would
decide the magnetic susceptibility of the material.
The basic atomic model of orbiting electrons around the nucleus constitutes tiny current loops at atomic
levels. If the electrons are assumed to move in an orbit of radius r with a constant speed v, the period of
e eω ev
rotation T, then the current I = T
= 2π
= 2πr

The magnetic moment associated with the electron’s moment in the orbit
ev 1 1
μe = I. A = I ∗ πr 2 = πr 2 = evr = eωr 2
2πr 2 2
The angular momentum of the orbiting electron L = me vr and the magnetic moment can be written as
e
μorb = (2m ) L
e

Thus the magnetic moment of the electron is proportional to it’s angular momentum. The ratio of the
μorb e
magnetic moment to the angular momentum γ = = ( ) is known as the gyro magnetic ratio. Due
L 2me
to the negative charge of the electron, the vectors μ ⃗ point in opposite directions and perpendicular
⃗⃗ and L
to the plane of the orbit. The angular momentum of the electron is a multiple of ℏ (quantum mechanical
concepts).
The magnetic effect of the orbital motion of the electron is either zero or very small because of the
cancellation of the magnetic moments of electrons orbiting in opposite directions.
Apart from the orbital magnetic moments, electrons have the property of spin and a spin angular
momentum S⃗ associated with it. S⃗ is of the same order as the angular momentum L
⃗.

The magnetic moment due to the spin of the electrons is almost twice that of the orbital movement and
eℏ
the contribution from the spin to the magnetic moment can be written as μspin = √s(s + 1) m .

The total magnetic moment of an atom is the vector sum of orbital and spins magnetic moments.
The net magnetic moment due to electrons

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

eℏ
μe = g e 2m where ge is the Lande g factor (spectroscopic splitting factor
j(j+1)+s(s+1)−l(l+1)
of the energy levels) given by g e = 1 + 2j(j+1)

From this the smallest non zero value of the spin magnetic moment due to electrons
eℏ
(when s=j and l=0) is obtained as μs = m

This is twice the orbital magnetic moment and hence determines the susceptibility of
eℏ
materials. The magnetic moment being quantized; the smallest unit of magnetic moment μB = 2m
=
9.27 × 10−24 J/T is called the Bohr magneton.
The magnetic moments of protons and neutrons are much smaller than the electron magnetic moment
and are usually neglected.
3. Larmor precession
A magnetic moment directed at some finite angle with respect to the applied
magnetic field direction, experiences a torque μ × B. This causes μ to precess
(rotate) about the magnetic field direction. (This is analogous to the precession
of a spinning top around the gravity field.)
For static magnetic moments or classical current loops, the torque tends to line
up the magnetic moments with the magnetic field B, so this represents its
lowest energy configuration.
In the case of an electron in orbit around a nucleus, the magnetic moment is
proportional to the angular momentum of the electron. The torque exerted the external field produces a
change in angular momentum which is perpendicular to that angular momentum, causing the magnetic
moment to precess around the direction of the magnetic field rather than settle down in the direction of
the magnetic field. This is called Larmor precession.
When a torque is exerted perpendicular to the angular momentum L, it produces a change in angular
momentum ΔL which is perpendicular to L, causing it to precess about the z axis. The effect of the torque
as follows:
∆𝑳 𝑳 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽∆𝝋
𝜏 = 𝝁 × 𝑩 = | 𝝁𝑩 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽| = = = 𝑳 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽 𝝎𝑳
∆𝒕 ∆𝒕
dϕ e μ e
The precession angular velocity (Larmor frequency) is given by dt
= ωL = 2m B since L = (2m ) .
e e

The Larmor frequency forms the basis for magnetic resonance.

The Larmor precession frequency for electrons is 14GHz/ T which forms the basis of the electron spin
resonance.
The Larmor precession frequency for protons is 7.8 MHz/ T which forms the basis of the Nuclear magnetic
resonance.
Thus, the magnetic moment due to a precessing charge can be evaluated as
1 Be2 r2
μind = eωr 2 = where r is the radius of the precessing orbit. The sign of this induced magnetic
2 4m
moment is negative by Lenz’s law ( it opposes the magnetic field that induced the precession).

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

If there are Na number of atoms per unit volume and each atom contains Z electrons we can estimate the
𝑵𝒂 𝒁𝒆𝟐 𝒓𝟐 𝑩 𝑵𝒂 𝒁𝒆𝟐 𝒓𝟐 𝝁𝒐 𝑯
total induced magnetisation as 𝑴 = 𝑵𝒂 𝒁𝝁𝒊𝒏𝒅 = − 𝟒𝒎
= − 𝟒𝒎

M Na Ze2 r2 μo
Hence the induced susceptibility χm = H
=− 4m
.

This will yield an extremely small negative value of the order of 10-5 for most materials and is recognized
as the diamagnetic response of all materials.
4. Diamagnetic materials
Diamagnetism is a property due to which certain materials are repelled by both
poles of a magnet. When a short rod of diamagnetic material is placed in a
magnetic field, it aligns itself at right angles to or across the direction of the
magnetic lines of force. The meaning of term “diamagnetic” in Greek is “across
magnetic”.
The orbital motion of electrons is equivalent to tiny atomic current loops, producing magnetic fields. In
most materials, the magnetic fields of the orbiting electrons balance each other and add up to zero in the
absence of an external field. However, in the presence of an external magnetic field, the interaction of
external field with the electrons induces an internal field which tends to align the current loops in a
direction opposite to the applied field.
This effect on atomic scale is similar to that due to Lenz's law induced magnetic fields tend to oppose the
change which created them. If magnetic response is only due to these phenomena then the material is
classified as diamagnetic. Diamagnetism is exhibited by a substance only in the presence of an externally
applied magnetic field.
Atoms with closed electronic shells and sub shells are generally diamagnetic (-ve χm and μr < 1). The
classical diamagnetic susceptibility is given by
Ne2 μ0 2
χdia = − 〈r 〉
6m
where N is the number of atoms per unit volume and <r2> is the average value of the square of the radius
of the current loops. From the above it is observed that diamagnetic susceptibility is temperature
independent.
All materials have inherent diamagnetism. Diamagnetism is detectable and observable only with sensitive
instruments and in the presence of powerful magnets. Examples of diamagnetic substances include water,
wood, sodium chloride, most organic compounds such as petroleum, some plastics, and many metals
including copper, particularly the heavy metals with many core electrons, such as mercury, gold, bismuth
and antimony. Most substances usually considered as nonmagnetic may be strictly called as diamagnetic.
The volume magnetic susceptibility of water is = −9.05×10−6
Bismuth the most strongly diamagnetic material has = −1.66×10−4.
However, superconductors show strong diamagnetic effect (and offer no resistance to the formation of the
current loops and conduction of electricity). Lines of magnetic flux are deflected away from the material
due to diamagnetism and are expelled completely. These materials can be used in creating strong repulsive
magnetic fields and are used in levitation experiments / applications.

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

5. Para magnetism
Paramagnetic materials are weakly attracted by magnetic fields. When a small rod of paramagnetic
material is placed in a magnetic field, it aligns with or alongside
the lines of force. The term paramagnetic is derived from a
Pierre Curie (1859–1906) was a
Greek word meaning “alongside magnetic”. French physicist who worked
Para magnetism is generally a characteristic of materials with extensively on magnetic materials. He
and his wife, Marie (Sklodowska) Curie
partially filled 3d shells, where the Hund’s rule restricts the (1867–1934), later became famous for
anti-parallel alignment resulting in the net spin magnetic their research on radioactivity.
moment for the atoms.
Materials with unpaired electron spins in the atomic / molecular orbitals have permanent magnetic dipoles
even in the absence of an applied field. These dipoles are randomly oriented and do not interact with one
another. The thermal energy of the system being greater than the magnetic
energy k B T > 𝜇. 𝐵 , the thermal agitation result in random ordering and a net zero
magnetic moment.
In the presence of an external magnetic field these dipoles tend to align to the applied
direction leading to a net magnetic moment in the direction of the applied field. The
induced magnetization is weak and linearly dependent on the applied magnetic field. When the magnetic
field is removed, the dipoles relax back to their normal random orientation and the magnetization becomes
zero. Aluminium, Oxygen titanium, FeO are some examples of materials which are attracted by a magnetic
field.

6. Quantum theory of Paramagnetic materials (solids).

Some of the features of the quantum theory of Para magnetism are:

The magnetic dipoles of a molecule / atom /ion in a material can be written as
𝝁 = 𝒈𝝁𝑩 𝒎𝒋
where g e is the Lande g factor and μB is the Bohr magneton. In an external magnetic field B the dipoles
are allowed only certain fixed orientations of the total angular momentum J and described by Mj.
For a given J (the total angular momentum) the allowed orientations are 2j+1 (j, j-1,j-2…..0 …..-j)
and the energy of interaction with an external magnetic field B is given by
𝑬𝒋 = 𝝁. 𝑩 = 𝒈𝝁𝑩 𝒎𝒋 . 𝑩 = 𝒈𝝁𝒐 𝝁𝑩 𝑯𝒎𝒋
For a material with N dipoles per unit volume, the net magnetization is the statistical average of the allowed
μj orientations and is given by
mj gμo μB H
( ⁄ )
+j kT
∑−j mj gμB ∗exp
𝑴=N [ mj gμo μB H ] eqn. 1.0
( ⁄ )
kT
∑ exp

𝒎𝒋 𝒈𝝁𝒐 𝝁𝑩 𝑯
Clearly the magnetization will depend on the value of the exponent ( 𝒌𝑻
).
Case 1: If 𝐦𝐣 𝐠𝛍𝐨 𝛍𝐁 𝐇 ≪ 𝐤𝐓 i.e. the thermal energy is significantly higher (high temperatures) than the
magnetic interaction energy with field, the ratio will be much less than 1.
Expanding the exponential terms as a power series and simplifying the terms the net magnetization

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

𝐠𝛍𝐨 𝛍𝐁 𝐇 𝐣(𝐣 + 𝟏) 𝐍𝐠 𝟐 𝛍𝐨 𝛍𝟐𝐁 𝐇 𝐣(𝐣 + 𝟏)

𝐌 = 𝐍𝐠𝛍𝐁. ∗ =
𝐊𝐓 𝟑 𝐊𝐓 𝟑
𝐌 𝐍𝐠 𝟐 𝛍𝐨 𝛍𝟐𝐁 𝐣(𝐣+𝟏) 𝐂
The magnetic susceptibility 𝛘 = = = which is the classical Curies law of paramagnetic
𝐇 𝐊𝐓 𝟑 𝐓

𝑚𝑗 𝑔𝜇𝑜 𝜇𝐵 𝐻
( ⁄ )
∑+𝑗
𝑘𝑇

{ Simplification of the expression [

−𝑗 𝑚𝑗 𝑔 𝜇𝐵 ∗𝑒𝑥𝑝

(
𝑚𝑗 𝑔𝜇𝑜 𝜇𝐵 𝐻
⁄ )
𝑘𝑇
]
∑ 𝑒𝑥𝑝

𝑚𝑗 𝑔𝜇𝑜 𝜇𝐵 𝐻 ∑+𝑗 ( 𝑚𝑗 𝑥)
( ⁄ ) −𝑗 𝑚𝑗 ∗𝑒𝑥𝑝
Let 𝑒𝑥𝑝 𝑘𝑇 = 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑚𝑗 𝑥 , then the expression simplifies to
∑ 𝑒𝑥𝑝( 𝑚𝑗 𝑥)

Since the exponent is small we can expand the exponential term as a series (summation neglecting the higher order term
+𝑗 +𝑗 2 +𝑗
∑−𝑗 𝑚𝑗 (1+ 𝑚𝑗 𝑥) ∑−𝑗 𝑚𝑗 +∑−𝑗 𝑚𝑗𝑥
in x, ∑(1+ 𝑚𝑗 𝑥)
= +𝑗 +𝑗
∑−𝑗 1+∑−𝑗 𝑚𝑗 𝑥

𝑚𝑗 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 − 𝑗 𝑡𝑜 = 𝑗 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑗 and hence

+𝑗
∑ 𝑚𝑗 = 𝑗 + (𝑗 − 1) + ⋯ + 1 + 0 − 1 − 2 … . −(𝑗 − 1) − 𝑗 = 0
−𝑗

+𝑗 𝑗(𝑗 + 1)(2𝑗 + 1) 𝑗(𝑗 + 1)(2𝑗 + 1)

∑ 𝑚𝑗 2 = 2 × [12 + 22 + ⋯ + (𝑗 − 1)2 + (𝑗)2 ] = 2 × =
−𝑗 6 3
+𝑗
∑ 1 = 2𝑗 + 1
−𝑗

+𝑗 𝑗(𝑗+1)(2𝑗+1)
Hence
∑−𝑗 𝑚𝑗 (1+ 𝑚𝑗 𝑥)
∑(1+ 𝑚𝑗 𝑥)
=
0+
3
(2𝑗+1)+0
𝑥
=𝑥
𝑗(𝑗+1)
3
}
Ng2 μo μ2B j(j+1)
materials where the Curie constant C = K 3
.

The paramagnetic susceptibility is thus inversely proportional to the absolute temperature.

Curie's law is obeyed under generally prevailing conditions of low magnetization (μH < kBT), i.e., when only
a relatively small fraction of atomic dipoles are aligned, with the magnetic field. Curie's law indicates that
the Magnetization M depends on the applied field H (the stronger magnetic field aligns more dipoles) and
the susceptibility χ. However, χ is inversely proportional to the temperature i.e., the magnetization
decreases if the temperature is increased (increased thermal agitation prevents alignment of dipoles).

Case 2: If 𝐦𝐣 𝐠𝛍𝐨 𝛍𝐁 𝐇 ≫ 𝐊𝐓 i.e. the magnetic interaction energy is much greater than the thermal
energy the exponent will be greater than 1.
Equation 1 can be written as
𝐦𝐣 𝐠𝛍𝐨 𝛍𝐁 𝐇
( ⁄ )
𝐣 𝐤𝐓 𝐣 (𝐦𝐣 𝐱)
∑∗𝐣 𝐦𝐣 ∗𝐞𝐱𝐩 ∑∗𝐣 𝐦𝐣 ∗𝐞𝐱𝐩 𝐠𝛍𝐨 𝛍𝐁 𝐇
𝐌 = 𝐍𝐠𝛍𝐁 [ 𝐦𝐣 𝐠𝛍𝐨 𝛍𝐁 𝐇 ] = 𝐍𝐠𝛍𝐁 (𝐦𝐣 𝐱)
where 𝐱 = 𝐤𝐓
( ⁄ ) ∑ 𝐞𝐱𝐩
𝐤𝐓
𝐞𝐱𝐩

This can be simplified by taking 𝐚 = 𝒙𝒋 to

𝟐𝐣+𝟏 𝟐𝐣+𝟏 𝟏 𝐚
𝐌 = 𝐍𝐠𝛍𝐁 𝐣 [ 𝟐𝐣
𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐡 ( 𝟐𝐣 ) 𝐚 − 𝟐𝐣 𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐡 (𝟐𝐣)] = 𝐍𝐠𝛍𝐁 𝐣. 𝐁𝐣 (𝐚)

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

𝟐𝐣+𝟏 𝟐𝐣+𝟏 𝟏 𝐚
where 𝐁𝐣 (𝐚) = [ 𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐡 ( )𝐚 − 𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐡 ( )] is the Brillouin function which describes the
𝟐𝐣 𝟐𝐣 𝟐𝐣 𝟐𝐣
probability of all the dipoles to orienting in the direction of the external field.
When the dipoles are aligned completely in the direction of the external field, the magnetization of the
material is saturated, and the saturation magnetization is given by Ms = NgμB j .
Hence the magnetization can be written as M = Ms Bj (a).
1
When j= 2 the Brillouin function reduces to tanh (a).

It the limit of large j the Brillouin function converges to the classical Langevin’s function L(a)= cot h(a) −
1
.
a

a a3
[ L(a) can be written as a series expansion in a as − +
3 45
2a5
945
−⋯ . For small values of a, the function then
a
converges to 3.]

For small values of a (large values of T) the magnetization

a
reduces to M = Ms 3 and the susceptibility is given by χ =
Ng2 μo μ2B
which is similar to the Curies theory of
3KT
Paramagnetism.
M
The variation of Ms
is represented in the figure for three different cases of the temperature (as compared
to Tc the curie temperature of the material)
Examples of paramagnetic materials at room temperature include Aluminium (Al), Manganese (Mn),
platinum (Pt), Oxygen (gas and liquid), and rare earth ions Ce, Nd.
7. Weiss Molecular field concept.
1
The variation of χ vs T is expected to be a straight line passing
Pierre Weiss (1865–1940), French
through the origin. However, some materials show a variation physicist deserves to be called the “Father
in this behaviour with the straight line showing a positive of Modern Magnetism” because almost the
whole theory of ferromagnetism is due to
intercept Tc on the temperature axis.
him, and his ideas also permeate the theory
Weiss in 1907 showed that this could be due to a molecular of ferrimagnetism. Most of his work was
field which is the field at any point due to the neighbouring done at the University of Strasbourg.
dipoles. If M is the magnetization in the material, then the
magnetic field at any point is proportional to M and hence the field at any
point in the material could have an additional contribution = λM. This field
has the tendency to align the dipoles in the direction of the field and hence
would be a case of spontaneous magnetisation. Therefore, the Curies law is
M C C
modified as H+λM
= T
which gives us χ = T−T where Tc = λC is the Curie
c
temperature above which the materials show the paramagnetic behaviour.
Below Tc the material behaves as a ferromagnetic material. However, most
of the common materials have a low Tc and hence at normal temperatures
does not show the spontaneous magnetization.

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

8. Ferromagnetism
Ferromagnetism is the property by which certain materials are attracted by a
magnet and form permanent magnets. Ferromagnetic materials have very high
magnetic susceptibilities, ranging from 1000 up to 100,000. Ferromagnetic
materials exhibit spontaneous magnetization and exhibit sharp hysteresis
characteristics in the magnetisation versus magnetising field.
Ferromagnetism can be considered as a case of a Paramagnetic material with a
high molecular field constant λ and a very high Tc .
The local molecular field can result in a high ordering of spins in certain materials like Fe, Co, Ni etc, result
in the materials being easily magnetised).
The presence of unpaired spins in the 3d shells of these materials gives a large
dipole moment for the atom. (Cobalt has a Tc >1000K, Fe has a Tc >750K and Ni
has a Tc >350K)
In Ferromagnetic materials when an external magnetic field is applied the
magnetic moments are aligned in the direction of the applied field and domains
grow at the expense of their neighbours. Microscopic regions in which large
numbers of dipoles are aligned are called magnetic domains. The unpaired
electron spins to line up parallel with each other. This quantum mechanical interaction at the atomic level
gives rise to long range order and creates magnetic domains. The alignment directions of the individual
regions are random throughout the material. Hence the bulk of the material is usually unmagnetized or
weakly magnetized in the absence of magnetic field.
The magnetisation of the material in the presence of an external magnetic field tends
to exhibit the classic M-H hysteresis. When the external field is strong and all the spins
are aligned the magnetisation shows a saturation value. When the external field is
removed, sizable number of dipoles still maintains the alignment resulting in a net
magnetization which is the retentivity of the material. Thus, the material gets
permanently magnetized. This remnant magnetisation can be removed if a coercive T<T 𝑯 = 𝟎, 𝑴 ≠ 𝟎
c
field Hc is applied in the reverse direction. Since the material exhibits hysteresis, it is
obvious that it has a memory of the previous experience of external fields and hence can be used as
memory materials. The flipping of the magnetisation in opposite directions is achieved by applying a
saturation magnetisation field Hs in the appropriate direction.
All ferromagnets have a maximum temperature at which the thermal motion of the dipoles becomes
violent, the alignment of dipole moments and spontaneous magnetization cannot be maintained. Phase
change from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic behaviour with the usual weak magnetization occurs. This
critical temperature is called as the Curie temperature. The magnetic susceptibility above the Curie
C
temperature is given by χ = T−θ where θ is the transition temperature constant.

Ferromagnetic materials can be characterized by their Curie temperature in addition to their Permeability,
Coercive field and Remnant Magnetization.
Apart from iron, other materials exhibiting ferromagnetic property are nickel, cobalt, some of the rare
earths gadolinium, dysprosium, samarium and neodymium in alloys with cobalt. They have important

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

applications in fabrication of magnets, electromagnets, transformers; magnetic storage media e.g. tape
recording, computer hard disks etc.
9. Anti-ferro magnetic materials
The magnetisation of a material also depends on the type of ordering that exist in
some of the ordered materials. In the case of ferro magnetic materials it is seen that
there is a long-range ordering of the magnetic dipoles that lead to strong
magnetisation.
The class of anti-ferro magnetic materials such as MnO, NiO, CoO etc in which the T<Tc 𝑯 = 𝟎, 𝑴 = 𝟎
electron spins associated with the atoms at different crystallographic sites are ordered such that the net
magnetisation of the material is zero below a certain temperature called as the Neel temperature TN.
Above the Neel temperature the materials behave as paramagnetic with the magnetic susceptibility
inversely proportional to temperature.
10. Ferri magnetic materials
Ferri magnetic materials are a class of ordered structures in which the magnetic
moments at crystal sites are anti parallel and unequal. These materials are treated as
two sub lattices of a crystal with different magnetic moments and anti parallel
alignments. Generally these materials contain cations of two or more types with
different magnetic moments and hence show a net magnetisation not equal to zero.
Examples of such materials are NiFe2O4, CoFe3O4, and BaFe12O19 etc. T<Tc 𝑯 = 𝟎, 𝑴 ≠ 𝟎
Ferri magnetic materials like ferro magnetic materials show significant magnetisation below the transition
temperatures. Above Tc the materials display paramagnetic behaviour.
11. Magnetic susceptibility vs temperature
The temperature dependence of the susceptibility for the Para, Ferro and
anti-ferro magnetic materials are summarised as shown. For paramagnetic
materials the susceptibility χm varies monotonically as 1/T following the
Curies law.
Ferromagnetic materials follow the Curie Weiss law and exhibit a
paramagnetic behaviour above the Curie temperature.
Anti-ferromagnetic materials show an increase in susceptibility till the Neel temperature above which the
material behaves as a paramagnetic material.
12. Soft and Hard Magnetic materials
Ferromagnetic materials can be classified as soft and hard materials depending on the
nature of the hysteresis displayed by the material.
Soft magnetic materials are easily magnetisable and de-magnetisable. They are
characterised by a small coercivity and large saturation magnetisation. The hysteresis
loop is narrow and has low losses.
Soft magnetic materials find application in high frequency switching of the magnetisation and are used in
transformers, motors and generators.

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

Hard magnetic materials on the other hand are difficult to magnetise and demagnetise.
They exhibit a very high retentivity and require a large coercive field to demagnetise the
material. The area under the hysteresis curve is large indicating the large amount of
energy loss.
The high retentivity of the material makes it ideal for magnetic storage of information as
in hard disk drives. The current capabilities are close to 1 Terra bits per square inch.
13. Giant Magneto Resistance device.
scattering of electron is reduced when Magneto resistance has been
observed in layered magnetic materials where the resistance across
the thickness of two magnetic layers (generally Cobalt) separated by
a non magnetic layer (generally Copper) shows a dependence on the
magnetisation states of the individual layers. The resistance to
current flow depends on the direction of magnetisation of the two
layers and can show large variations in the resistance. The effect has
been attributed to the spin scattering of the electrons when they
flow through the material. The scattering of electron is reduced
when the magnetisation of the two layers is parallel. When the spin
state of the two layers are anti parallel the scattering and hence the
resistance increases.
When the magnetic layers are in the range of 3 – 5nm with the
separation layer about 25nm, it has been observed that the change is resistance can be as high as 50% of
which is significant for any practical measurements and applications.
The Giant Magneto Resistor finds application in the read head of magnetic memories. One of the layers
ferromagnetic (soft magnetic material) layer is pinned to an anti-ferro magnetic material and the other
(soft magnetic material) free layer’s spin orientation is flipped by the magnetisation of the domain (hard
magnetic material) on the recording media.
14. General classification of magnetic materials
A general scheme for classifying materials according to the atomic characteristics is represented.

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

Questions and Problem set

1. Derive and expression for the Bohr Magneton and calculate the value.
2. Discuss the concepts of Larmor precision and gyromagnetic ratio.
3. Elaborate on two tests which can differentiate a paramagnetic material from a diamagnetic material
4. Discuss the parameters that distinguish ferro, antiferro and ferri magnetic materials
5. Classify magnetic materials on the basis of the magnetic susceptibility.
6. Bring out the differences between soft and hard magnetic materials.
7. Write a note on applications of magnetic materials
8. Discuss the magnetic hysteresis of materials.
9. Discuss magnetic memory materials.
10. An electron in a hydrogen atom moves in a circular orbit of radius 0.065nm. The electron makes 1016
revolutions per second. Calculate the orbital magnetic moment.
11. The saturation magnetic induction of nickel is 0.65 Wbm-2. If the density of nickel is 8906 kgm-3 and
atomic weight is 514.7. Calculate the magnetic moment of nickel in Bohr magneton.

Magnetism titbits
• James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), Scottish physicist, who developed the classical theory of
electromagnetic fields described by the set of equations known as Maxwell’s equations.
• Pierre Curie (1859–1906) was a French physicist who worked extensively on magnetic
materials. He and his wife, Marie (Sklodowska) Curie (1867–1934), later became famous for
their research on radioactivity.

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

Contents

1. Electric fields in dielectrics – concepts of polarization

2. Electric field due to dipoles in the dielectric
3. Polarization mechanisms
4. Non-linear dielectrics – classification of non-centro symmetric systems
a. Piezoelectric
b. Pyroelectrics
c. Ferroelectrics
5. Solved Problems and practice problems

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

Unit V Dielectrics
Polarisation in dielectrics
Dielectrics are a class of material which respond to external electric fields, and find extensive
use in the electronics and electrical industry.
From our knowledge of capacitors, the dielectric constant of a material is
𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑪
• 𝜺𝒓 = 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍
=𝑪
𝒐

𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑬𝒐

• 𝜺𝒓 = 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍
= 𝑬

where Eo is the applied electric field and E is the net electric field across the dielectric.
An external electric field can cause the center of positive and negative charges in the crystal to shift from their
mean position. This separation of charges results in creation of dipoles in the system. The net dipole moment
created per unit volume is called the polarization P. The polarization in the material is dependent on the net
electric field experienced by the dielectric.
If Eo is the applied electric field applied to a parallel plate capacitor
the surface charge density on the plates of the capacitor 𝝈 = 𝜺𝒐 𝑬𝒐
If a dielectric material is placed between the plates of the capacitor,
the surface density of charge due to polarization 𝝈𝒑 = 𝜺𝒐 𝑬′ where
𝑬′ is called the depolarization field.
The net electric field E between the plates is reduced by a factor
which is the dielectric constant 𝜀𝑟 of the material ie., 𝑬=
𝑬𝒐
𝒐𝒓 𝑬𝒐 = 𝜺𝒓 𝑬
𝜺𝒓
𝝈𝒑
The net electric field 𝑬 = 𝑬𝒐 − 𝑬′ = 𝜺𝒓 𝑬 − 𝜺
𝒐

Simplifying 𝝈𝒑 = 𝜺𝒐 𝜺𝒓 𝑬 − 𝜺𝒐 𝑬 = 𝜺𝒐 (𝜺𝒓 − 𝟏)𝑬

Hence the polarization in the material due to a net electric field is given by
𝑷 = 𝝈𝒑 = 𝜺𝒐 (𝜺𝒓 − 𝟏)𝑬

The polarisation of the material can also be written as

𝑷 = 𝜺𝒐 𝝌𝑬 where 𝝌 is the dielectric susceptibility of the material and is a measure of the ability to create
dipoles in the material. The polarization is linearly proportional to the applied electric field for pure dielectrics.
This gives us the relation between susceptibility and dielectric constant
𝝌 = (𝜺𝒓 − 𝟏) or 𝜺𝒓 = 𝟏 + 𝝌.
If N is the number of atoms per unit volume and 𝜶𝒆 is the polarisability of the individual dipoles then the
polarization can be written as 𝑷 = 𝜺𝒐 𝝌𝑬 = 𝑵𝜶𝒆 𝑬 .
𝑵𝜶𝒆
Or 𝝌 =
𝜺𝒐

Polarization in dielectrics is thus proportional to the net electric field.

Electric fields in a dielectric material

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

To understand the polarization mechanism in totality, it is essential to understand the components of the electric
fields. which exist in a real dielectric, apart from the applied electric field E and the depolarization field 𝑬′ . In
general the local electric field inside a dielectric material comprises of four components of electric field.
𝑬𝒍𝒐𝒄 = 𝑬𝒐 + 𝑬𝟏 + 𝑬𝟐 + 𝑬𝟑
𝑬𝒐 is the external applied electric field ,
𝑬𝟏 is the depolarization field,
𝑬𝟐 is the Lorentz field on the surface of the spherical cavity (scooped out of the dielectric and
𝑬𝟑 is the field due to other dipoles lying within the sphere.
{ In the case of cubic structures the net Lorentz field can be shown to be zero.
The electric field due to the dipoles inside the spherical cavity can be estimated
as follows.
Consider a linear array of dipoles at A, B, C A`, B` and C` with dipole moment
𝝁 at regular intervals of d.

C B A O A`
B` C`

The electric field at A and A` are equal in strength and direction and equal to
𝟐𝝁 𝝁
𝑬𝑨 = 𝑬𝑨` = and the net electric field 𝑬𝑨𝑨` = .
𝟒𝝅𝜺𝒐 𝒅𝟑 𝝅𝜺𝒐 𝒅𝟑

The electric field at O due to the pair of dipoles equidistant from O can be written as
𝝁 𝟏 𝟏 𝟏 𝝁 𝟏 𝟏.𝟐 𝝁 𝜸𝑷
𝑬 = 𝑬𝑨𝑨` + 𝑬𝑩𝑩` + 𝑬𝑪𝑪` … … = (𝒅𝟑 + + (𝟑𝒅)𝟑 … . ) = 𝝅𝜺 ∑ = 𝝅𝜺 = where 𝛾
𝝅𝜺𝒐 (𝟐𝒅)𝟑 𝒐𝒅
𝟑 𝒏𝟑 𝒐𝒅
𝟑 𝜺𝒐
is a constant that depends on the geometry of the material. From the series we can evaluate the
contribution of the nearest neighbors and find that only first few pair of neighbors contributes
significantly to the electric field at any site. ###
𝑷
In the case of a dielectric with a cubic structure the effective field can be written 𝑬𝒊𝒏 = 𝟑𝜺
𝒐

Thus the net electric field across the dielectrics will be greater by this factor and given by
𝑷
𝐸𝑙𝑜𝑐 = 𝐸 + 𝐸𝑖𝑛 = 𝐸 +
𝟑𝜺𝒐
𝑷
From the definition of polarization we have 𝑷 = 𝑵𝜶𝒆 𝑬 𝒍𝒐𝒄 = 𝑵𝜶𝒆 (𝑬 + 𝟑𝜺 ) = 𝜺𝒐 (𝜺𝒓 − 𝟏)𝑬
𝒐

𝜺𝒓 −𝟏 𝑵𝜶𝒆
Solving this we get = . This is the Clausius Mosotti relation which relates the macroscopic
𝜺𝒓 +𝟐 𝟑𝜺𝒐
dielectric constant to the microscopic polarisability of the material.
It is obvious that the effective microscopic polarisability is greater when the internal fields are
considered and should evolve in a more realistic dielectric constant of the material.
[ derivation of the Clausius Mosotti relation:

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

𝑃
𝑃 = 𝑁𝛼𝑒 (𝐸 + )
3𝜀𝑜
𝑁𝛼
Rearranging terms we get 𝑃 (1 − 3𝜀 𝑒 ) = 𝑁𝛼𝑒 𝐸
𝑜

𝑁𝛼𝑒 𝐸 𝑁𝛼𝑒 /𝜀𝑜

𝑃 = 𝑁𝛼𝑒 = 𝜀𝑜 (𝜀𝑟 − 1)𝐸,, simplifying 𝑁𝛼𝑒 = (𝜀𝑟 − 1) Taking the inverse
(1− ) (1− )
3𝜀𝑜 3𝜀𝑜

𝑁𝛼𝑒
(1− ) 1 1 1 1 1 1 (𝜀 +2) 𝜺𝒓 −𝟏 𝑵𝜶𝒆
3𝜀𝑜
𝑁𝛼𝑒 /𝜀𝑜
= 𝑁𝛼𝑒 − 3 = (𝜀 leading to 𝑁𝛼𝑒 = 3 + (𝜀 = 3(𝜀𝑟 −1) Hence = ]
𝑟 −1) 𝑟 −1) 𝑟 𝜺𝒓 +𝟐 𝟑𝜺𝒐
𝜀𝑜 𝜀𝑜

Polarisation mechanisms
Electronic polarization : When an atom is subjected to an electric field
E, the nucleus and the electron cloud will try to move in opposite
directions. The nucleus moves in the direction of the applied field and the
electron cloud in the direction opposite to that of the applied field. The
centre of the negatively charged electron cloud no longer coincides with
the positive nucleus and hence results in an induced dipole. The
polarization produced due to this induced dipole is called “Electronic
polarization”.
The electronic polarizability is 𝜶𝒆 = 𝟒𝝅𝝐𝒐 𝑹𝟑 where R is the radius of the atom. The electronic polarization is
temperature independent since the size of the atom does not depend on temperature.
Ionic Polarisation
Dielectric materials with ionic bonding there exists regular arrangement
of positive and negative ions. Ions between any two bond is then a
dipole. Because of the symmetric arrangement of the dipoles in the
material, the net dipole moment in the material may be zero.
In the presence of and external electric field the elongation of the bond
will result in an increased the dipole moment along the direction of the field. However when the ions are
displaced from their equilibrium position, a restoring force in the form of the columbic force of attraction tends
to constrain the bond elongation.
The displacement of the ions results in a net induced dipole moment per unit volume
or the electric field induces polarization in the material. The ionic polarisability 𝜶𝒊 is
independent of temperature and depends on the Young’s modulus of the material.
Orientational polarization:
Polar molecules have permanent dipole moments since the net charge centers are
separated by s small distance. These dipoles can move and rotate freely (polar liquids - such as the water
molecule). However due to the random motion of the molecules at normal temperatures, there is no net
polarization in the material.
In the presence of an external field the dipoles tend to align in the direction of the field. This results in a net
dipole moment for the material and is called orientational polarization.
𝑵𝝁𝟐 𝑬
The polarisation is given by 𝑷= 𝟑𝒌𝑻

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

Where N is the no of dipoles per unit volume, μ is the dipole moment of the individual molecules and T the
temperature.
Increase in temperature increases the random motion of the dipoles and hencethe orientational polarization is
highly temperature dependent.
Space charge limited polarisation
In general when two materials of different conducting phases meet at an
interface, a potential barrier layer is formed resulting in an accumulation
of charges of the opposite polarities on either sides of the interface. This
can be modeled to be a polarization of charges in the bulk of the material.
The width of the barrier is generally very small and can result in
reasonably high capacitance. These are however very sensitive to
voltages and frequencies and may not be effective at normal working
conditions.

{{ Frequency dependence of dielectric constant.

The response of the dielectric constant to an applied ac electric field can be understood by considering the
ability of the individual dipoles in the material to follow the external AC field. The dielectric constant of an
ideal dielectric which has all mechanism contributing to the polarization can be expressed as
𝜺𝒓 = 𝜺𝒔𝒑 + 𝜺𝒐𝒓 + 𝜺𝒊𝒐 + 𝜺𝒆
The AC electric field induces the dipoles due to the individual polarization
mechanisms have to align in the direction of the field. At low frequencies, the
dipoles due to all mechanisms tend to aligns with the electric field easily. As
the frequency of the applied electric field increases, the dipoles alignment
tends to lag behind the field (depending on the inertia of the dipole). This
results in a effective decrease in the polarization of the material as the
frequency increases.
The AC response of the dielectric constant can be represented as 𝜀 = 𝜀 ′ +
𝑗𝜀 ′′ where 𝜀 ′ is the real part of the dielectric constant and 𝜺′′ is the imaginary part of the dielectric
constant which describes the losses in the dielectric.
At low frequencies of about 100Hz, the contribution to the dielectric constant from the
space charge polarization disappears and hence the dielectric constant decreases. Beyond this and up to about
109 Hz remains constant implying all the other three polarization mechanisms are active. At round 109 Hz (the
microwave region) the orientation polarization stops responding to the electric field and the contribution from
this mechanism to the dielectric constant become zero and the effective dielectric constant of the material
decreases to a lower value.
At this point only two polarization mechanisms are contributing to the dielectric constant – the ionic and
electronic polarization mechanisms.
Around 1013 Hz (far infra red) the frequency of the AC field is in close to the vibrational frequencies of the bond
and resonance phenomena sets in. The dielectric constant shows an initial increase and exhibits a resonance
type of behavior around the resonant frequency.
Beyond this range the dielectric constant is only due to the electronic polarization. As the frequency of the AC
approach 1015 Hz - the visible range which corresponds to the visible absorption frequency and a resonant
condition sets in with a behavior similar to the ionic range.

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

The material may be treated as transparent to frequencies > 1016 Hz and the dielectric constant should be that
of vacuum or free space.
The dielectric loss 𝜺′′ represents the energy loss in the dipoles following the electric fields. As the
frequency increases generally the inertia of the dipoles becomes significant and at particular
frequency ranges the dipoles become inert to the increasing ac frequency. }}###
Classification of non linear dielectric materials

32 Electrostrictive 21 non center 20 Piezo 10 Pyro Ferro electric

classes of symmetric electric electric classes

11 Center of 1 Non Piezo 10 Non Pyro

symmetry classes electric class electric
Non Centro-symmetric system
Out of a total of 32 crystal point groups (see the course related to structure of
materials), 21 are non-centrosymmetric i.e. crystals not having a center of
symmetry.
BaTiO3 is a good example of a non centro symmetric crystal. The unit cell is cubic
above the curie temperature of about 120 C, when the material is centro symmetric
and behaves as a paraelectric. Between 5C and 120C the material is in the
tetragonal phase exhibiting ferroelectric behavior. Below 5C and -90C the material
has a orthogonal phase and below -90C the material is in the orthorhombic phase.
In all these phases also the material exhibit ferroelectric behavior in varying
proportions.
These dipoles arise due to the fact that in the tetragonal unit cell of BaTiO3, the Ti4+ cation is surrounded by six
O-2 anions in a slightly deformed octahedral configuration,
and can occupy one of two asymmetrical sites. In either
position, the Ti4+ cation is not coincident with the negative
charge center of the oxygen anions by a small fraction of
an Angstrom, creating an electric dipole. The energy
barrier between the two possible Ti atom positions is
sufficiently low to permit motion of the atom between sites
by the coercion of an electric field, and the material can
thus be directionally polarized with ease.
Non centro symmetric crystals can respond to an external stimulus producing polarization or surface charges
which show up as a potential across the element. However these properties are highly anisotropic and could be
described as a tensor (which describes the direction dependent properties of materials). Piezoelectric behavior
is the response of these crystals to external mechanical pressures; Pyroelectric behavior is the response to
thermal changes and Ferroelectric behavior is a response of the material to external electric fields.
Piezoelectric materials
Piezoelectric Effect is appearance of an electrical potential across some faces of some crystals when a pressure
is applied to the crystal. Pierre Curie and his brother Jacques discovered the effect in 1880. Subsequently the
inverse piezoelectric effect was observed as a distortion in the crystal when an electrical field is applied.

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

The term piezoelectricity refers to the fact that, when a crystal is strained, an electric field is produced within
the substance. As a result of this field, a potential difference develops across the sample, and by measuring this
potential one may determine the field. The inverse effect - that an applied field produces strain - has also been
observed. It is explained by the displacement of ions, causing
the electric polarization of the crystal’s structural units. When
an electrical field is applied, the ions are displaced by
electrostatic forces, resulting in the mechanical deformation of
the whole crystal.
The piezoelectric effect is very small. A field of 103 V/cm in
quartz (SiO2) produces a strain of only 10-7. That is, a rod 1 cm
long changes its length by 10Å. Conversely, even small strains can produce enormous electric fields.
The piezoelectric effect is often used to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy, and vice versa; i.e.,
these materials are used to make a transducers. For instance, an electric signal applied to the end of a quartz rod
generates a mechanical strain, which consequently leads to the propagation of a mechanical wave - a sound
wave - down the rod.

Piezo electric materials like PZT (Pb(Zr,Ti)O3), and Quartz find extensive application in electronics as sensors
and actuators.
• Piezoelectric microbalances are used as very sensitive chemical and biological sensors.
• Atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopes for precision manipulation of sample at nano meter
levels
• Transient pressure measurement to study explosives, internal combustion engines (knock sensors), and
any other vibrations, accelerations, or impacts.
• Energy Harvesting from impact on the ground
• Electric igniters
• Transducers are used in electronic drum pads to detect the impact of the drummer's sticks.

Pyroelectric materials
Pyroelectricity is the ability of certain materials to generate an electrical potential when they are heated or
cooled. Non centrosymmetric crystals with a net spontaneous polarization can be sensitive to external
temperatures.
The change in temperature modifies the positions of the atoms slightly within the crystal structure, such that
the polarization of the material changes. This polarization change gives rise to a voltage across the crystal. If
the temperature stays constant at its new value, the pyroelectric voltage gradually disappears due to leakage
current (the leakage can be due to electrons moving through the crystal, ions moving through the air, current
leaking through a voltmeter attached across the crystal, etc.).
The pyroelectric coefficient may be described as the change in the spontaneous polarization vector Ps with
temperature T
𝝏𝑷𝒔
𝒑𝒊 = where pi (Cm−2K−1) is the vector for the pyroelectric coefficient.
𝝏𝑻

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

It can be used to create a flow of current in an external circuit connected to a device using pyroelectric materials.
The effect has been known for many years, but it is only since about 1960 that its technological applications
have been seriously considered.
These have been almost entirely in the field of the detection of electromagnetic radiation, especially in the two
“atmospheric window” infrared (IR) bands of 3-5 pm and 8-14 pm. The ambient temperature operation of
pyroelectric detectors, leading to low power consumption, low cost, compactness.
Pyroelectric detectors have found a huge range of applications in products ranging from fire alarms to intruder
detectors, in instrumentation such as gas analysis and laser beam characterization and in military/paramilitary
applications such as thermal imaging.
Ferroelectric materials
Charge displacements in dielectric and para electric ceramics, such as Al2O3, mica, TiO2, are totally reversible,
as ions / electron cloud return to their original position once an applied field is removed, and the polarization
effect is linear.
Ferroelectrics are a class of non-centro symmetric crystals which are also a subclass of the pyro electric /
piezoelectric materials. These materials show a spontaneous polarization even in the absence of an electric field.
The spontaneous polarization observed in ferroelectric materials depends on the crystalline phase of the material
(generally referred to as perovskites). BaTiO3 is a classic example of a perovskite material.
C
The dielectric susceptibility of the material is highly temperature dependent and is given by χ = T−Tc

for all T>Tc where C is a constant dependent on the material and Tc is the curie temperature. At temperature
below Tc, the material shows spontaneous polarization and is classified as a ferroelectric material. At
temperatures greater than Tc, the material is para electric with the susceptibility inversely proportional to
temperature.

Ferroelectric dielectrics differ from dielectric materials in their response to

external applied electric field. Ferroelectrics display a nonlinear response of
polarization to changing electric fields and display a hysteresis in the P versus E
variations. The hysteresis loop is caused by the existence of permanent electric
dipoles in classes of materials, which develop spontaneously below the Curie
temperature. The polarisation state of the ferroelectric material has a memory
effect and hence is used extensively in DRAMs and SRAMS.
Ferro electric materials find numerous applications as sensors and actuators
taking advantage of the temperature and field dependencies of the susceptibility (dielectric constant).

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

Solved examples

1. The surface density of charge of a parallel plate capacitor is 7.2 x 10-10C m-2. A dielectric medium
with εr =12 is introduced between the plates of the capacitor. Estimate the induced surface
density of charge on the dielectric surface and the electric fields between the plates with and
without the dielectric material.
𝝈𝒐
The electric field across the plates of the capacitor without dielectric 𝑬𝒐 = = 𝟖𝟏. 𝟑𝟓𝑽/𝒎
𝜺𝒐

𝝈𝒑
The electric field across the dielectric due to surface charges = 𝑬𝒑 = 𝜺𝒐

𝝈𝒐
𝝈𝒑 = (𝜺𝒓 − 𝟏) = 𝟔. 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟎 𝑪 𝒎−𝟐 .
𝜺𝒓
𝝈
Electric field across dielectric = 𝜺𝒑 = 𝟕𝟒. 𝟓𝟕𝑽/𝒎
𝒐

Electric field across the plates with the dielectric =6.78V/m

2. A dielectric medium with εr =25 is introduced between the plates of the capacitor with surface
density of charge on the plates equal to 8.00 x 10-10C m-2. Estimate, the electric fields between the
plates with and without the dielectric material and the surface density of charge on the dielectric.
The electric between the plates of the capacitor without the dielectric
σo
Eo = = 90.40V/m
εo
Eo
The electric field between the plates with the dielectric = = 3.62 V/m
εr

The electric field across the dielectric E ′ =86.78 V/m

The surface density of charge on the dielectric σ = E ′ ∗ εo = 7.68 x10−10 Cm−2

3. An elemental dielectric has εr =10 and contains 7.5 x 1029 atoms /m3. Calculate the electronic
polarisability of the material..
𝑷 = εo (εr − 1)E = Nαe E Given εr = 10
𝜺𝒐 (𝜺𝒓 −𝟏) 𝟖.𝟖𝟓∗ 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟐 ∗𝟗
αe = 𝑵
= 𝟕.𝟓∗𝟏𝟎𝟐𝟗
= 𝟏𝟎. 𝟔𝟐 ∗ 𝟏𝟎−𝟒𝟏 𝐹𝑚2

Problem Set:

1. If the molecular dipoles in a 10-3 m radius water drop are pointed in the same direction, calculate the
polarisation of the water drop. Dipole moment of water molecule is 6x10-30 C m.
2. Assuming that the polarisability of Kr atom is 2.18x 10-40 Fm-2, calculate its dielectric constant. Kr has
2.7x1025 atoms per unit volume at NTP.
3. An elemental dielectric has εr =12 and contains 5 x 1029 atoms /m3. Calculate the electronic polarisability
of the material.
4. Find the total polarisability of CO2 if its susceptibility is 0.985x10-3. Density of CO2 is 1.977 Kgm-3.
5. On being polarised an oxygen atom shows a dipole moment of 0.5x10-22 C-m. If the distance of the center
of the -ve charge cloud from the nucleus is 4x10-17 m, calculate the polarisability of oxygen.

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 Unit V– Magnetic materials 2021

6. A parallel plate capacitor without a dielectric is charged such that the surface charge density on the plates
is 106 C-m-2. If a slab of a material with dielectric constant 10 is inserted between the plates, calculate
the polarisation in the material and the electric field due to induced surface charge on the dielectric.
7. A dielectric material has one species having an atomic polarizability value of 10-30 Cm2V-1. It is found
that when the dielectric sample is kept in a uniform electric field, the field reduces to one tenth of its
original value. Estimate the number of atoms per unit volume of the material.
8. Electronic polarisability of Sulphur is 3.28 x 10-40 F-m2. Calculate the dielectric constant of Sulphur if
the density and atomic weight of Sulphur are 2.08 x 103 kg-m-3 and 32 respectively.

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 2021
Unit IV : LASERS

Unit IV LASERS

Contents :

1. Introduction – interaction of radiation with matter – Einstein’s Coefficient

2. Conditions for laser action
a. Two level system
b. Three level system
c. Four level system
3. Basic requirement of a laser system
4. Round trip gain in a laser medium
5. Properties of LASERs.
6. Atomic LASER - He Ne LASER system
7. Molecular LASER – CO2 LASER system
8. Semiconductor LASER – CO2 LASER system

1 DEPT OF PHYSICS PES UNIVERSITY

 2021
Unit IV : LASERS

Introduction
LASER is the acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Einstein analyzed the
interaction of radiation with matter and formalized the rate equations for induced absorption and
spontaneous emission. He also conceptualized stimulated emission as a probable emission mechanism
emission from excited atoms. From the discussions that follow it will be evident that the process of
stimulated emission is the key to a LASER system.
1. Interaction of radiation with matter – Einstein’s coefficients
The interaction of radiation with matter can be explained by the three processes namely
• Induced absorption (stimulated absorption )
In the induced absorption process an atom in the ground state /
lower energy state (E1) absorbs radiation and is excited to the
higher state (E2). The rate of absorption is dependent on the
population of the ground state N1 / lower energy state and the
energy density of radiation (ρ(hν)) of the appropriate frequency
such that hν= E2-E1.
The rate of induced absorption 𝑹𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒔 = 𝑩𝟏𝟐 ∗ 𝑵𝟏 ∗ 𝝆(𝝂)
where B12 is the Einstein’s coefficient for induced absorption.
• spontaneous emission
An atom in the higher energy / excited state cannot normally remain
in the excited state for a long time and generally de excites to the
lower energy state spontaneously. The lifetimes of the excited states
are generally of the order of nanoseconds. The rate of spontaneous
emission is dependent on the population of atoms in the excited
state N2 only and
𝑹𝒔𝒑 𝒆𝒎 = 𝑨𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐 where A21 is the Einstein’s coefficient for
spontaneous emission.
𝒅𝑵𝟐
If the process of spontaneous emission is predominant we can infer that 𝑹𝒔𝒑 𝒆𝒎 = − 𝒅𝒕
= 𝑨𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐 .

From this we can infer that 𝑵 𝟐 = 𝑵𝟐 (𝟎)𝒆−𝑨𝟐𝟏 𝒕 and the Einstein’s co-efficient for spontaneous
𝟏
emission can be understood to be 𝑨𝟐𝟏 = where 𝝉 is the average life time of electrons in the upper
𝝉
energy state for spontaneous emission.
• Stimulated emission.
An atom in the excited state can have a life time in the excited
state for longer periods of time of the order of milliseconds to few
seconds. These states are referred to as Meta stable states. Such
excited atoms have to be stimulated to return to the lower energy
state with an external intervention in the form of a photon whose
energy is equal to E2-E1. In this process the energy of the excited
atom is released as a photon whose characteristics remain the
2 DEPT OF PHYSICS PES UNIVERSITY
 2021
Unit IV : LASERS

same as that of the stimulating photon. This process sets in a chain of photon emission where all the
photons are in the same state. The rate of stimulated emission is then dependent on the population of
atoms in the excited state and the energy density of radiation is given by
𝑹𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒎 = 𝑩𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐 ∗ 𝝆(𝝂) B21 is the Einstein’s coefficient for stimulated emission.
When the material is in thermal equilibrium with the radiation, the rate of absorption should be equal to the
rates of emission due to different processes ie., 𝑩𝟏𝟐 ∗ 𝑵𝟏 ∗ 𝝆(𝝂) = 𝑨𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐 + 𝑩𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐 ∗ 𝝆(𝝂)
This gives 𝝆(𝝂)(𝑩𝟏𝟐 ∗ 𝑵𝟏 − 𝑩𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐 ) = 𝑨𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐
𝑨𝟐𝟏
𝑨𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐 ⁄𝑩
𝟐𝟏
𝝆(𝝂) = =
(𝑩𝟏𝟐 ∗ 𝑵𝟏 − 𝑩𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐 ) 𝑩𝟏𝟐 ∗ 𝑵𝟏
( − 𝟏)
𝑩𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐
The distribution of electrons in the energy states are described by the Maxwell Boltzmann distribution laws
(𝑬𝟐 −𝑬𝟏 ) 𝒉𝝂
𝑵
and are given by 𝑵𝟏 = 𝒆𝒙𝒑 𝒌𝑻 = 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒌𝑻 . Substitution of this in the equation for energy density gives the
𝟐
expression for the energy density of radiation as
𝑨𝟐𝟏
𝑨𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐 ⁄𝑩
𝟐𝟏
𝝆(𝝂) = = 𝒉𝝂
(1)
(𝑩𝟏𝟐 ∗ 𝑵𝟏 − 𝑩𝟐𝟏 ∗ 𝑵𝟐 ) 𝑩𝟏𝟐
(𝑩 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒌𝑻 − 𝟏)
𝟐𝟏

Comparing this with the Planck’s expression for energy density of radiation at any frequency and
temperature

𝟖𝛑𝐡𝛎𝟑 𝟏
𝛒(𝛎) = (2)
𝐜𝟑 𝐡𝛎
(𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐤𝐓 − 𝟏)

𝐀𝟐𝟏 𝟖𝛑𝐡𝛎𝟑 𝐁
Comparing term by term we observe that ⁄𝐁 = 𝐜𝟑 and 𝐁𝟏𝟐 = 𝟏. This implies that 𝐁𝟏𝟐 =
𝟐𝟏 𝟐𝟏
𝐁𝟐𝟏 = 𝐁 i.e., the induced absorption coefficient is equal to the stimulated emission coefficient and the ratio
of the coefficient of spontaneous emission to the coefficient of stimulated emission is proportional to 𝛎𝟑 .
For a system to have a predominant stimulated photon emission, then the ratio of the rate of stimulated
emission to the rate of spontaneous emission should be greater than 1.
𝐡𝛎 hν
𝑩∗𝑵𝟐 ∗𝝆(𝝂) 𝝆(𝝂) 𝟏 𝑵
Thus 𝑨𝑵𝟐
= 𝑨 = 𝐡𝛎 ≈ 𝐞𝐱𝐩−𝐤𝐓 = 𝑵𝟐 . (Since hv>>kT, expkT ≫ 1 for visible radiations at
𝟏
𝑩 (𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐤𝐓 −𝟏)

normal temperatures).
This implies that the rate of stimulated emission will be predominant over rate of spontaneous emission if
and only if 𝑵𝟐 > 𝑵𝟏 or the population of the higher energy state is higher than the lower energy state. This
condition is referred to as the population inversion.
2. Conditions for the lasing action

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Two level systems

The basic requirement for light amplification to occur is that
the stimulated emission is the predominant emission
mechanism over the spontaneous emission mechanism
(which is the natural response of a system).
From the discussion it is evident that stimulated emission is
possible when the upper energy state has a higher population
of occupation than the lower energy state. For a two level
laser system this requires N2>N1 or population inversion has
to be established between the higher and lower energy
states. But from the MB distribution function we find that
𝒉𝝂
𝑵𝟏
𝑵𝟐
= 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒌𝑻 >>1.

For a two level system in equilibrium this implies that T has to

be negative if N2 has to be greater than N1. Hence it is not Einstein’s
original paper on radiations 1917.
possible to obtain population inversion between E2 and E1 in a
two level system and it may not be possible to get a LASER
beam from absorption and emission between two energy levels. The understanding is that it is not possible
to get a LASER if the same levels are involved in both the emission and absorption process.
b. Three level systems:
The introduction of an intermediate level between the ground state and the
upper excited state can result in decoupling the emission process and
absorption process levels. The absorption process is between the ground
state E1 and the upper excited state E3. The electrons from the upper energy
state decays non-radiatively to the intermediate meta stable state E2. If this
state is a meta stable state (lifetime of the electrons  10-3 seconds),
electrons can accumulate in this state and the population of electrons in the
meta stable state could be higher than the population of the ground state in
a very short time resulting in a favorable condition for stimulated emission from E2 to E1. However, the
drawback is that the ground state is quickly depleted resulting in a discontinuous phenomenon of stimulated
emission. Generally, three level systems give a pulsed LASER. This is because the ground state is still a
common factor in the absorption and emission process.
c. Four level systems:
A four level system can effectively decouple the absorption levels and the
emission levels. In a four level system the absorption is between the lower
(ground) state E1 and the higher excited state E4. The electrons in the
excited state decays non radiatively to the intermediate meta stable state E3.
The electrons are stimulated to transit to a lower energy state E2 (above E1).

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Finally the electrons from the level E2 fall back to the ground state maintaining the population of the lower
E1 so that the process of excitation can continue. The absorption is between E1 and E4 whereas the
stimulated emission is between E3 and E2. Thus the energy states in the two processes are completely
decoupled. In this way the system can behave in a continuous mode and can produce a continuous LASER.
3. Basic requirements of a laser system

I. Active medium – The active medium consists of the medium which possess the appropriate energy
levels which are meta stable states. The presence of the meta stable states increases the probability
of population inversion which is a prime condition for laser action. The active medium could be
solids, liquids or gases depending on the type of lasers.
II. Energy pump – The constituents of the active medium have to suitably excited to the lasing high
energy state from an external energy source. The external energy sources could be optical, thermal,
electrical or chemical depending on the type of lasers. In the case of gas lasers, generally an
electrical discharge is a sufficient source for exciting the medium.
III. Resonating Cavity – Once the lasing action is initiated it is essential that the stimulated emission in
the desired wavelength is amplified to get a sustainable laser action of sufficient intensity. The
design of the optical cavity is an important aspect of the laser system.
The optical cavity may be the active medium of a suitable dimension (in the case of a solid state
laser system) or a suitable enclosure for the gas or liquid as the case may be.
The emitted photons are contained in the cavity through multiple reflections by highly aligned
mirrors at the end of the cavity. The reflectivity of one of the mirrors could be close to 100% while
the second mirror could be 90-98% reflective.
In general the optical cavity has to be a narrow region whose length in the direction of propagation
is a half integer multiple of the desired wavelength.
This helps in the reflected beam to be in phase with the incident beam thus preventing photon loss
due to destructive interference.

4. Round trip gain in a laser medium

The stimulated emission in the medium provides for
gain with a optical feedback mechanism of reflecting
mirrors on both ends of the cavity. This arrangement
results in multiple travel of the trapped optical beam in
the medium and ideally the beam should have a high
intensity after few reflections. The gain of photons as
the beam progresses is given by the intensity increasing
as 𝑰 = 𝑰𝒐 𝒆𝒈𝒙 where g is the gain coefficient.
However, there could be also losses in the medium due to absorption, scattering and the partial
transmission from one of the mirrors. The reduction in the intensity due to scattering and absorption is
described by 𝑰 = 𝑰𝒐 𝒆−𝜶𝒙 where 𝜶 is the loss coefficient.

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In order to reach a steady-state with non zero intensity (oscillation) the gain due to stimulated emission
must be sufficient to overcome these losses.
In general the intensity of the photon beam as it travels a distance x in the medium can be written as
𝑰 = 𝑰𝒐 𝒆(𝒈−𝜶)𝒙
Consider a beam of photons of intensity Io originating from one of the cavity of length L at x=0.
One round trip of the photons is then the process where
➢ the photons starting from the face of the first mirror travel the length L to the second mirror
➢ gets reflected at the mirror with reflectivity R2
➢ travels back to the first mirror covering a distance of L
➢ and reflected back from the mirror with reflectivity R1
The intensity of the beam after one round trip gain is 𝑰 = 𝑰𝟎 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 𝒆𝟐(𝒈𝒐 – 𝜶)𝑳
The amplification factor is then the ratio of the output intensity to the input intensity and should be equal
to 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 𝒆𝟐(𝒈𝒐 – 𝜶)𝑳.
If 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 𝒆𝟐(𝒈𝒐 – 𝜶)𝑳 > 𝟏, oscillations can build up and the laser is said to be above the threshold. The
threshold of laser oscillations is then defined by 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 𝒆𝟐(𝒈𝒕𝒉 – 𝜶)𝑳 = 𝟏
𝟏
𝒈𝒕𝒉 = (𝟐𝜶𝑳 − 𝐥𝐧(𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 ))
𝟐𝑳
This implies that the gain of the system can be tuned with the length of the cavity and the reflection
coefficients of the two mirrors.
5. Properties of LASERs.
The most important properties of a LASER are attributed to the stimulated emission of photons (BOSONs
which display identical properties)
1. Monochromaticity (spectral line broadening): Light from a laser typically comes from an atomic
transition with a single precise wavelength. So, the laser light has a single spectral color and is almost
the purest monochromatic light available. However, the laser light is not truly monochromatic.
The emission line widths are also limited by the uncertainty principle which limits the accuracy of the
energy (ΔE) of the photons emitted by electrons which spend times with a spread in time (Δt).
Generally, LASER line widths ∆𝝀 are very small of the order of 10-6 Å as compared to 1 Å for ordinary
monochromatic sources.
The spectral emission line has a finite width due to Doppler Effect of the moving atoms or molecules
from which the transitions occur. Since the wavelength of the light is extremely small compared to
the size of the laser cavities used, many resonant modes of the tiny spectral bandwidth can exist in
the laser cavity.
Light source Center Wavelength FWHM Line width FWHM line width
0 ( A0 ) 0 ( A0 ) (HZ)
Ordinary discharge lamp 5896 1 9X1010
Cadmium low-pressure lamp 6438 0.013 9.4X108
Helium-neon laser 6328 10-7 7.5X103

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2. Coherence - Coherence is a unique property of laser

light. In the stimulated emission process triggered by
a common, the emitted photons are "in phase" or
have a definite phase relation to each other. This
coherence is essential to produce high quality
interference, which is used to produce holograms.

Ordinary light is incoherent because it comes from independent atoms, which emit on time scales of
about 10-8 seconds. There is a degree of coherence in sources like the mercury green line and some
other useful spectral sources, but their coherence does not approach that of a laser.

Coherence can be of two types of temporal coherence and spatial coherence.

• Temporal coherence refers to the correlation between the field at a point and the field at the
same point after an elapse of time. If the phase difference between the two fields is constant
during the period (of the order of microseconds), the wave is said to
have said to have temporal coherence. If the phase difference changes
many times and in an irregular way during the period of observation, the
wave is said to be non-coherent.

Temporal coherence is characteristic of a single beam of light. The

𝟏
temporal coherence is evaluated as 𝝉𝒄 = where ∆𝜈 is the spread in
∆𝝂
the frequency of the Laser. The coherence
length defines the largest distance for which
interference can be well defined and is given
by 𝒍𝒄 = 𝝉𝒄 . 𝒄 where c is the velocity of light.

The length in which the coherence exists may

be of the order of kilometers for LASERs compared to few centimeters for ordinary light.

o Spatial coherence - Two fields at two different points of a wave front is said to be spatially
coherent if they preserve a constant phase difference over any time t. Two beams of light
originating from different parts of a source will have been emitted by different groups of atoms.
Each beam will be time incoherent and will have random phase changes. Two such beams are
said to be spatially incoherent and the interference pattern produced by these will have a poor
visibility. When visibility of the interference pattern as a function of the size of the source then
𝝀𝑫
we have spatial coherence and is described by the coherence width 𝒍𝒘 ≈ 𝒅
.
3. Divergence (directionality) – LASER is characterized by a very low divergence which ensures that the
𝝀
beam profile is small over long distances. The divergence of a LASER beam is given by 𝜽 = 𝝅𝝎𝒐 where
𝒐
𝜆𝑜 is the wavelength, and 𝜔𝑜 is the spot size. Typically, the divergence is of the order of mill radians
(0.001o.) A common lab laser beam of a wavelength of 532nm and a radius of 1mm on the surface of
the earth would have a diameter of 6.50 km on the surface of the moon. (θ = (2/π) * (532 e-9 / 2* 10-3) =
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1.7 *10-4 this is then multiplied by the distance to the moon (3.844 *108 m), which gives the spot size to
be 65192 m.)
4. Intensity – The high intensity of a Laser arises out of the properties of monochromaticity, coherence and
low divergence. Typically, very low power LASERs of about 1 to 2mW output with a beam diameter of 1
mm can result in an intensity of about 10 kW/m2 as against an intensity of 10W/m2 produced by a 20W
bulb.

6. Atomic LASER – He-Ne LASER system

Active medium: The He-Ne LASER is a atomic species laser where the active medium is the He-Ne gas
mixture contained in a quartz tube of narrow diameter and maintained at a low pressure which forms the
active medium.
Energy pump: The energy pump is enabled by maintaining an
electrical discharge across the length of the Quartz tube by
either a high voltage DC source or a RF source.
Resonant cavity: The cavity is the Quartz tube of appropriate
lengths with reflecting mirrors on both ends of the axis of the
tube. Additional polarisers may be placed in the path of the
beam to ensure a polarized beam of LASER.
He and Ne mixed in the ratio of 10:1 is the active medium where
the absorption levels are in the He atoms and the lasing levels
are in the Ne atomic transitions. The He atoms are excited with
an electrical discharge and the two excited states of helium
atom, the 2 3S and 2 1S which are Meta stable. These excited He atoms transfer their energy to Ne atoms by
collisions and the excites the Neon atoms to the 2s2 and 3s2 levels as the energy levels of these states are
close to the He excited states. (This process is referred to resonant energy transfer.)
A large number of Ne atoms due to collision with He atoms get to the excited state create a population
inversion with the ground state. The excited states of Ne are not meta stable and hence de-excites to the
ground states through the intermediate states of 3p and 2p. The transition between the 3s to the 2p
intermediate states gives the characteristic red laser of Ne with a wavelength of 632.8 nm. The transitions
from the 3s to 3p and 2s to 2p lines give rise to radiations with wavelengths in the Infra red of 3.39
micrometers and 1.152 micrometers.
The transitions from the 3p and 2p levels to the 1s intermediate level (close to the ground state) is non
radiative. However the 1s state is a Meta stable state and has to be
quickly depopulated. This is achieved by making the tube narrow
increasing the collision probability of the atoms with the sides of
the walls of the tube.
Once in the ground state the Ne atoms are pumped back and the
system gives a continuous output.

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The cavity consists of reflecting mirrors and the path length adjusted for the visible radiation at 632.8 nm,
which also suppress the IR radiations. Additionally some gases which have absorption in the Infra red are
added in small quantities to suppress the IR radiations.
Light from the system can be partially polarized (the polarization state of the stimulating photon). The
addition of Brewster’s windows at the ends of the discharge tube before the reflecting mirrors would ensure
that the emitted beam would be fully polarized in the plane of incidence. However the addition of the
Brewster’s window would eventually lead to a reduction in the output by a factor of 40% to 50%.
7. Molecular laser
Molecular vibrations in the infra red are very interesting in that the molecular excited states generally have
lifetimes of the order of 1s to a few milli seconds. It would be therefore possible to excite the molecules to
the higher energy state and make them relax to the ground state to get stimulated emission quite naturally
if the population of the higher energy state can be managed to be greater than the lower energy states. The
CO2 laser is an example of a molecular laser where the Laser emission is in the infrared. Interestingly these
are high power continuous wave lasers with the efficiencies reaching up to 40%.
Carbon dioxide laser
In the CO2 molecule, the Oxygen atoms are bound to the Carbon atom
by the bonding force which acts like a harmonic oscillator. Molecules
can be excited to vibrate about their mean positions. Additionally, the
molecules may rotate and spin because they are in a gaseous
state. The rotational and vibrational states are quantized.
Transitions between vibrational energy states/levels results in photon
emission in the infrared, while transitions between rotational states
emit photons in the microwave region.
If the CO2 molecules are excited and made to relax they emit in the infra red producing heat. This mode of
emission could be mimicked to a stimulated emission if the population of molecules in the excited states is
greater than the population in the ground state, thus creating a LASER with infra read wavelengths.
Carbon dioxide molecule has three possible vibrational states – an excited asymmetric stretch (001 state), a
lower symmetric stretch (100 state) and bending states (020 and
010 states). The asymmetric stretch states have a higher life time
(molecular excited states have higher life times of the order of 1ms
to a fraction of a second) and higher energy than the symmetric and
bending modes. An excited carbon dioxide molecule in the higher
anti symmetric stretch state can relax into the symmetric stretch
state giving a radiation at 10.6 μm (0.117eV) and into the bending
mode with emission of IR at 9.6 μm (0.129 eV).
The carbon dioxide laser is a high power gas laser with immense
industrial applications.
Construction and Principle of Operation

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All lasers consist of three components: a gain (or laser) medium, an energy source (also known as a pump)
and an optical resonating cavity. The three components of a Carbon dioxide laser system comprise of :
• THE ACTIVE MEDIUM - A mixture of carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, and helium gases serve as the gain
medium. Typical gas mixtures have an CO2: N2: He
ratio of 1:2:8. The N2 molecules are excited with
energy close to the excited states of CO2 which
results in the excitation of CO2 to the asymmetric
stretch mode.
• THE ENERGY PUMP - Electrical discharge current —
serving as the laser pump — which excites the gas
medium to higher energy states through the
electrical discharge of the He gas, which collides
with the N2 gas to excite them into the higher energy states.
• OPTICAL CAVITY - A specialized optical resonator. Because CO2 lasers operate solely within the
infrared spectrum and can attain high power outputs, their optical components are typically made of
specialized (and often expensive) materials such as Germanium, Zinc Selenide, Silver, Gold, and
Diamond. Since the CO2 lasers work in the Infra red region all parts connected with the laser cavity
have to have suitable infra red absorption coatings and an effective cooling system is required for the
system as a whole. The hot helium atoms must then be cooled to maintain a population inversion (a
sufficient difference between excited and lower energy atoms to produce optical gain) with the excited
carbon dioxide molecule.

8. Semiconductor lasers - Homo junction

Light emitting diodes work on the principle of recombination of electron and holes in the depletion region of
a pn junction diode which result in the emission of a photon. The photon emission is possible only if the
semiconductor is of the direct band gap type such as GaAs, InP etc ( Si and Ge have an indirect band gap and
are not suitable for such applications). The photon emission is a case of spontaneous emission which is
highly non coherent and has no directionality.
To convert a LED into a laser it is essential conditions of population inversion in the depletion region,
stimulated emission and a resonating cavity are satisfied.
Semiconductor lasers use heavily doped direct band gap
semiconductors like GaAs which is the active medium. The heavy
doping results in an extremely thin depletion region and, moves
the Fermi level of the n type into the conduction band and the
Fermi level of the p type into the valence band.
Figure shows the depletion region of a heavily doped PN junction
in the unbiased condition where the in electrons and holes are
present in the “depletion region”, however they are not in a

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favorable state for recombination.

The energy pump in these devices is the large forward bias current when the PN junction is forward bias.
The larger number of electrons in the n side and holes in the p side are in a favorable state for
recombination in a narrow region referred to as the active region.
This recombination result in the generation of photons in the action
region. This emission is of the stimulated type. A suitably designed
laser cavity with appropriate dimensions (proportional to 𝜆/2) and
cleaving the surface carefully for maximum reflection at opposite
ends, results in the emission of laser from the active region.
The homo junction lasers are not very efficient and require a very
high forward current density of the order of 10000 A cm-2 at room
temperature and hence are operated at very low temperatures or in
the pulsed condition.
This is attributed to the low charge concentrations in the active region and not all the photons produced by
the electron hole recombination are part of the laser output. This results in a device with extremely low
efficiencies.
Nobel Lecture: The double heterostructure concept
and its applications in physics, electronics, and
Heterojunction lasers. technology* Zhores I. Alferov A. F. Ioffe Physico-
The problems in a homojuction laser can be overcome Technical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St.

with the design of a hetero junction laser. Hetero-

structures makes it possible to solve the problems in a
homo junction laser since in hetero junctions the
fundamental parameter of semiconductor crystals and
devices like band gaps, effective masses of the charge
carriers and their mobilities, refractive indices, etc could
be effectively tailored.
Petersburg 194021,
The double heterojunction device ensures higher
efficiency by Russian Federation (Published 22 October 2001

1. Carrier confinement: A double hetero structure

diode has two junctions which are between two
different band gap semiconductors (GaAs and AlGaAs).
The GaAs active layer has a lower band gap than the
AlGaAs layers on either side. This results in a population
of electrons in the conduction band of the GaAs layer
from the n type AlGaAs layer and a population of holes
in the GaAs layer from the p type AlGaAs. The
population of the electrons and hole in the GaAs layer
can recombine in the forward bias condition resulting in

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stimulated emission of photons. This requires less current to establish the required concentration of
electrons for population inversion.
2. Photon confinement: The other aspect of confining all the emitted photons to a narrow region can
be achieved by constructing a dielectric waveguide around the optical gain regionation and increase
the probability of stimulated emission. The n and p type AlGaAs on either side have lower refractive
index than the GaAs region which result in an increase in the number of photons traveling along the
cavity axis by total internal reflection.

Single hetero junction lasers require a current density of about 1500 A cm-2 whereas double hetero
junction lasers operate at lower currents of 600 A cm-2.
Practical hetero junction lasers however consist of many layers to improve the efficiency of the carrier
and photon confinements and operate at much lower operating currents at room temperatures.

Applications of Lasers

1. Frequency comb.

A resonant cavity oscillator can support multiple wavelengths

(frequencies). Given a cavity of length L (which is much greater
than the wavelength of visible radiations) the resonant
frequencies, which are referred to as the cavity modes, can be
represented as shown.
In the case of a LASER the line width indicates that there are
multiple frequencies in output as well. The gain curve of the laser
gives the laser output in all the frequencies with a gth greater than
1. The output then is a frequency comb, which has multiple
applications as demonstrated by TW Hansch and J Hall, the Nobel
Prize winners in 2005.
Optical Frequency combs (OFC) with mode locked femtosecond pulsed lasers are perfect time or frequency
references. OFC also are found to be the most accurate time references
and are the most stable clock references for integrated opto electronic
systems. Laser spectroscopy using frequency combs have become a
standard analytical tool in analysis of materials. These systems are used in
a variety of astronomical measurements and is considered to be a
potential standard clock reference.
2. Principles of Holography

Information storage with light has been known from the days of photography where in the wavelength and
intensity of light are recorded on a photographic plate or digitally on pixels. The photographic information
storage has a limitation of being a 2D creation of the information of the object being photographed.
Fundamentally light is fully characterized by wavelength 𝜆, phase 𝜙 and intensity 𝐼 at any point. Hence,
capturing all the three parameters would result in storing all the information about an object on a medium
or a digital medium. This is the fundamental idea of Holography.

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Capturing phase information is best done with an interference. Interference requires two wavefronts - one
is a reference beam (whose phase information is fixed) and the second is the wavefront reflected by the
object, which carries the phase information from different points on an object. Thus, the object beam
contains light from every point on the object carries all required information of wavelength, phase and
intensity. When the two beams interfere, the resultant interference pattern has all information about all
the points on the object.
The recording and reconstruction process can be explained in the language of Mathematics as follows. The
complex amplitude of the reference wave can represented by
Rr(x, y) = Ro(x, y)*eiψ(x,y)
where with real amplitude Ro(x, y) and phase ψ(x, y).
The wave which originates from the reflection from a surface similarly is given by
O(x, y) = O0(x, y)*eiφ(x,y)
with real amplitude O0(x, y) and phase φ(x, y).

The interference of the two waves on the holographic

plate resulting in a complex interference pattern and
the intensity distribution can be evaluated as
I(x, y) = [O(x.y) + Rr(x, y)]2 = [O0(x, y)]2 + [Or(x, y)]2 +
O(x, y). Rr(x, y)*+ O(x, y)*.Rr(x, y)
Where the last term is O(x, y). Rr(x, y)*+ O(x, y)*.Rr(x,
y) =2O0(x, y)*Or(x, y)*cos(ψ(x, y) − φ(x, y))
includes both the amplitude and phase of the object
wave fronts, i.e., Oo(x, y) and φ(x, y).
The reconstruction of the image will require the recorded holographic film and the reference source. The
beam that is transmitted is sensitive to the intensity of the source.
The transmission function of optical recording devices including photographic film is sensitive to intensity.
We will assume that the sensitivity is linear in intensity. The reference Rr(x, y) is assumed to be constant, and
equal to Ar, which is a plane wave incident perpendicular to the hologram. The transmission function (also
known as the hologram function) of such a device contains the stored information and can be written as
t(x, y) = t0 + βτ{[Oo(x, y)2 + [Ar(x, y)]2 + OR∗r + O∗Rr }
where β and t0 are constants. The constant β is the slope of the amplitude transmittance versus exposure
characteristic of the light sensitive material. For photographic emulsions β is negative. τ is the exposure time
and t0 is the amplitude transmission of the unexposed plate. t(x, y) is known as the hologram function.
If the hologram created as above, is illuminated by another reference wave Rp(x, y) as shown in the figure
The wave emanating from the hologram can be written as
U(x, y) = [ t(x, y) * Rp(x, y)]
= [t0 + βτ[Oo(x, y)2 + [Ar(x, y)]2 + OR∗r + O∗Rr]* Rp(x, y)

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Rt = U1 + U2 + U3 + U4
where, U1 = (t0 + βτ[Oo(x, y)2). Rp (x, y)
U2 = βτ[[Ar(x, y)]2 . Rp (x, y)
U3 = βτ[ OR∗r]. Rp (x, y)
U4 = βτ[O∗Rr]∗ Rp (x, y)
Suppose that Rr and Rp are the same and are constant, as in the case of a plane wave perpendicular to the
direction of propagation. Then, U3 is proportional to O, and U4 is proportional to O∗ .
The first term U1 refers to the intensity reduction of the reconstruction wave by the factor t0 + βτ|Ar(x, y)| 2
)r(x, y) during reconstruction.
The second term is small assuming that we choose A0(x, y) < Ar(x, y) during recording. This term is
distinguished from the first term by its spatial variation |A0(x, y)|2 . The |A0(x, y)|2 term contains low spatial
frequencies which have small diffraction angles and create a so-called halo around the reconstruction wave.
The size of the halo is given by the angular dimension of the object. These first two terms form the zeroth
diffraction order in equation.
The third term U3 denotes the object wave U(x, y) multiplied with the constant factor βτRr2 . An observer
who registers this wave in his eye therefore sees the virtual image of the object (not present) . This is the
most important term and represents the first diffraction order. The wave travels divergent from the
hologram thus creating a virtual image at the position of the original object. It is a virtual image because the
wave is not converging to form a real image. This image cannot be captured on a screen. The intensity
(square of amplitude) of the image does not depend on the sign of β. Therefore, it is unimportant whether
the hologram is processed “positive” or “negative”.
The fourth term U4 is essentially the complex conjugate of the object wave 𝑈 ∗ except for a multiplicative
term. This represents the −1 st diffraction order. Since it is complex conjugated wave, the phase changes its
sign with respect to U(x, y). As a consequence, the wave 𝑈 ∗ (𝑥, 𝑦) travels convergent and forms a real image.
The conjugated real image U4 is usually located at the opposite side of the hologram with respect to U3. U3
and U4 are called twin images or also represented as virtual and real images, respectively. All these
reconstructed wavefronts are represented in Figure.

14 DEPT OF PHYSICS PES UNIVERSITY

 2021
Unit IV : LASERS

Solved Numericals:
1. An emission system has two levels which gives rise to an emission wavelength of 546.1 nm. If the
population of the lower state is 4x1022 at 600 K, estimate the population of the higher energy
state.
Let N1 and N2 be the populations of energy states E1 and E2.
(𝑬𝟐 −𝑬𝟏 )
𝑵𝟏
According to the Maxwell Boltzmann distribution 𝑵𝟐
= 𝒆𝒙𝒑 𝒌𝑻 .
−(𝑬𝟐 −𝑬𝟏 ) 𝒉𝒄
Hence 𝑵𝟐 = 𝑵𝟏 𝒆𝒙𝒑 𝒌𝑻 = 𝑵𝟏 𝒆𝒙𝒑−𝝀𝒌𝑻 = 8.088 x 10-20
2. The ratio of population between the high energy states to the lower energy state is 5x 10 -19 at
400K. Find the emission wavelength between two states and the ratio A/B.

Given N2/N1 = 5x 10-19 N1/N2=2x1018 = ehν/kT

hc
λ= N = 854.56nm
kT∗ln ( 1)
N2

A 8πh
B
= λ3
=2.667x 10-14

3. The ratio of population of the upper excited state to the lower energy state in a system at 300K is
found to be 1.2 x 10-19. Find the wavelength of the radiation emitted and the energy density of
radiation.
N1 (E2 −E1 ) hc
= exp kT = expλkT
N2
Wavelength λ =1.06x10-6m
8πhν3 1
ρ(ν) = c3 hν =1.987x10-33 Js/m3.
(expkT −1)

4. A laser emission from a certain laser has an output power of 10 milli watts. If the wavelength of
the emission is 632.8nm, find the rate of emission of the stimulated photons.
c
Power of Laser P = n × hν = n × h × λ where n is the rate of stimulated emission.
P×λ
n= h×c
= 3.18 × 1016 per second

15 DEPT OF PHYSICS PES UNIVERSITY

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Unit IV : LASERS

Problem set
1 The ratio of the population of two energy levels is 1.5 x 1030. The upper level corresponds to a meta
stable state. Find the wavelength of light emitted at 330K (Ans 628 nm)
2 An hypothetical atom has energy levels uniformly separated by 1.2 ev. Find the ratio of the no of
atoms in the 7th excited state to that in the 5th excited state. (Ans: 5.22 x 10-41)
3 A pulsed laser has a power of 1mW and lasts for 10 ns. If the no. of photons emitted per second is
3.491 x 107, calculate the wavelength of the photons. (Ans: 693 nm)
4 If R1 is the rate of stimulated emission and R2 is the rate of spontaneous emission between two
energy levels, show that λ= hc / [kT ln{(R2/R1)+1}].
5 Find the ratio of the rate of stimulated emission to the rate of spontaneous emission for a system
emitting a wavelength of 632.8 nm at 300K. (Ans: 1.11 x 10-33)
6 If B10 = 2.7 x 1019m3/W-s3 for a particular atom, find the life time of the 1 to 0 transition at (a) 550nm
and (b) 55nm (answer: (a)370ns (b) 0.37ns )
7 The energy levels in a two-level atom are separated by 2eV. There are 3 x 1018atoms in the upper
level and 1.7 x 1018 atoms in the ground level. The coefficient of stimulated emission is 3.2 x 105
m3/W-s3 and the spectral radiance is 4 W/m2-Hz. Calculate the stimulated emission rate?
8 For an ordinary source, the coherence time τc = 10–10 second. Obtain the degree of non-
monochromaticity for wavelength λ0 = 5400 Å.
9 Calculate the coherence length of a laser beam for which the band width Δv = 3000 Hz.
10 The lifetime of transitions in a Na atoms emitting wavelength of 589.6nm is estimated to be 16.4ns.
Calculate the Einstein’s coefficients A and B. Calculate spectral broadening and the coherence length
of radiations.
11 The spectral line width of a HeNe laser emitting 632.8 nm is 10-16 m. Calculate Einstein’s coefficients
A and B and the coherence length of radiations.
12 Calculate the threshold gain factor of a helium–neon laser, which has a loss factor of 0.05 m-1 if the
configuration of the system is as follows:
(a) A 50-cm tube with one mirror 99% reflecting and the output coupler 90% reflecting
(b) A 20-cm tube with one mirror 99% reflecting and the output coupler 95% reflecting
(c) A 20-cm tube with one mirror 99% reflecting and the output coupler 97% reflecting
Comment on the results obtained.

16 DEPT OF PHYSICS PES UNIVERSITY