Talk:Photoelectric Effect
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But do we need Field Quantization to explain the Photoelectric Effect? I mean, perhaps quantization is only relevant when fields interact with matter. Does the Photoelectric effect demand that quantization is an intrinsic property of the field? --Michael A. Armen 00:43, 24 Aug 2005 (PDT)
Hum
I remember this being a subject of a day's talk in Kimble's 135c...
I remember that too, but never got to the bottom of it. Apparently there was a raging debate in the late 1960's/early 1970's about what part of the photoelectric effect requires quantum mechanics. Check out these two papers
L. Mandel et al, Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. 84, 435-444 (1964)
J. F. Clauser, Phys. Rev. D. 9, 853-860 (1974).
--Andrew J. Berglund 11:11, 24 Aug 2005 (PDT)
After some more reading up...
Check out Mandel and Wolf, Ch. 9: "It turns out, however, that for many purposes the quantization of the electromagnetic field is not necessary at all, and the response of the photodetector can be understood even if we continue to picture the field in terms of classical electromagnetic waves, provided the photoelectrons are treated by quantum mechanics...[F]or those electromagnetic fields for which an adequate classical description exists, the semiclassical and the fully quantized treatments of the photodetection problem yield virtually identical answers."
--Andrew J. Berglund 01:49, 25 Aug 2005 (PDT)
I think the fact that the electron can come out instantaneously,is not an aspect that semiclassical theory addersses. But yeah, SCT is pretty good. All of laser physics except the first photon, and all of EIT/Slowlight work to date. That is why one can do EIT/SlowLight in solids.
You're right -- semiclassically you would need to wait long enough to build up the requisite energy, and this time would depend on the intensit. But, the semiclassical results in Mandel and Wolf, actually do predict an instantaenous electron emission. Does this have to do with approximations in the analysis? In any case, we're planning on slowly updating this entry...feel free to add what you'd like. --Michael A. Armen 17:47, 27 Aug 2005 (PDT)
