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De-Broglie Waves

1) Louis de Broglie postulated that matter has wave-like properties just as light exhibits particle-like properties, with wavelength λ related to momentum p by the equation λ = h/p. 2) In 1927, Davisson and Germer conducted experiments where they observed electrons behaving as waves when striking a nickel crystal, providing direct evidence supporting de Broglie's hypothesis. 3) De Broglie waves cannot exceed the speed of light c. However, the group velocity vg of a wave packet can differ from the phase velocity vp. For matter waves, de Broglie showed that vg is equal to the physical velocity v of the particle.

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Sukhwinder Singh Gill
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1K views13 pages

De-Broglie Waves

1) Louis de Broglie postulated that matter has wave-like properties just as light exhibits particle-like properties, with wavelength λ related to momentum p by the equation λ = h/p. 2) In 1927, Davisson and Germer conducted experiments where they observed electrons behaving as waves when striking a nickel crystal, providing direct evidence supporting de Broglie's hypothesis. 3) De Broglie waves cannot exceed the speed of light c. However, the group velocity vg of a wave packet can differ from the phase velocity vp. For matter waves, de Broglie showed that vg is equal to the physical velocity v of the particle.

Uploaded by

Sukhwinder Singh Gill
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LOUIS DE BROGLIE'S CONCEPT OF

MATTER WAVES
Louis de Broglie asked himself "does
nature respect symmetry?" He was
convinced that it does. He postulated that
just as light has dual character, so does
matter. So for a photon,
            E   =   h ………….(1)
   also    E   =  p c ………….(2)
(for a particle of zero rest like Photon)
Equating (1) and (2)       
p c = h or p = h/c =h/
p = h/  …………..(3)
The above equation was interpreted by
de Broglie as the correlation between
particle (momentum p) and wave (wave
length ) characteristics. He simply inverted
the equation and wrote it as
 = h/ p ……………..(4)

and declared that particle of matter of


momentum p must have its dual wave
character of wave length . The waves
associated with matter are called matter-
waves. Matter-waves cannot be considered
as oscillations of some field (s) like electro-
magnetic waves. They are also called
probability waves.
DAVISSON AND GERMER'S
EXPERIMENT

INTRODUCTION
In the year 1927, Davisson and Germer
conducted their famous experiment which
was the experimental verification of De-
Broglie's hypothesis i.e.  = h/p.
THE EXPERIMENT

Their experimental setup was enclosed in a


vacuum chamber as shown below:
A beam of electrons accelerated
through the potential V were allowed to
strike a nickle crystal. Measurements were
made to count the number of electrons
scattered by the crystal.
OBSERVATIONS
Davisson and Germer
reported unexpected
results that the electrons
reflected very strongly at
certain angles only and
not at other directions.
Davisson and Germer further investigated
with properly oriented crystals that
electron behave as waves of all wave
lengths () as given by De-Broglie's
hypothesis. They calculated the wave
length of electron from the known
accelerating potential V by applying the
relation: =12.24/V1/2 Ao
Kinetic energy 1
gained by the eV  m v 2
2
electron when or
acclerated through V
2eV
volts v 
m
De-Broglie h
 
wavelength is given m v
by
h h
Substituting for v   
m v 2eV
m
e-charge on electron m
h-Planck’s constant or
mo-rest mass of   h 12.24
 A

electron 2eVm V
de-Broglie wavelength of electron when
accelerated with 54 V is 1.66 A
Also by using Braag’s law ie 2d sin=n for (n=1)
gives the wavelength 1.66A

The wave length associated


with Braag equation agreed
with the De-Broglie's
prediction. Thus it is
confirmed that electron has a
wave like nature because
only a wave has wave length.
PHASE VELOCITY AND GROUP VELOCITY
The de Broglie wave velocity/phase velocity is
given by
vp= ………………..(1)
where  is the frequency  is the de Broglie
wavelength =h/mv.
Equating the quantum expression E=h  with the
relativistic total energy E=mc2 to obtain h = mc2
or  = mc2 /h.
The de Broglie wave velocity is therefore
vp = = (mc2 /h)(h/mv)
v =c2/v………………..(2)
As v<c, vp>c! violating special relativity;
de Broglie introduced the concept of group
velocity vg and showed that a group of waves
need not have the same velocity as the waves
themselves to avoid the violation.
To begin with consider a group of waves
formed by combining the two waves differing
slightly in frequency and wave number as
Y1=Acos(t-kx) ……………………….(1)
and
Y2=Acos[(+)t-(k+ k)x] ………….(2)
The resultant displacement Y at any time t and
With the help of trigonometric identity
cosA + cosB = 2 cos[(A+B)/2] cos[(A-B)/2] and
cos(-A) = cos(A) …………………….(3)
We find
Y=Y1 + Y2
=2Acos[(2+)t/2 + (2k+k)x/2]*
cos[(t- kx)/2] …………..(4)
Since  and k are small compared with  and
k respectively,
2+  2 and 2k+k  2k and so
Y= 2Acos(t-kx) cos[(t- kx)/2] …..(5)
Equation (5) represents a wave of angular
frequency  aand wave number k that has
superimposed upon it a modulation of angular
frequency /2 and of wave number k/2.
The effect of modulation is thus to produce
successive wave groups as shown

=
The phase velocity vp is
vp=/k …………………..(6)
and the group velocity vg is
vg=/k = d/dk ..…..(7)
as  and k have continuous spreads instead of
the two values.
The angular frequency and wave number of the
de Broglie waves associated with a body of rest
mass m0 moving with the velocity v are
2mc 2
2m c 2
  2   .......(8)
h h 1 v2 / c2
2 2mv 2m v
and k   ..............(9)
 h h 1 v2 / c2
Both  and k are functions of the particle’s
velocity. The group velocity vg of the de Broglie
waves associated with the particle is
d d / dv
vg   .................(10)
dk dk / dv
Differentiating equations (8) and (9) w.r. v we
get
d 2m v dk 2m
 and  ...........(11)
dv h(1  v / c )
2 2 3/ 2
dv h(1  v / c )
2 2 3/ 2

gives the group velocity vg= v ie wave group


velocity is equal to the particle velocity

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