Photocell with housing 06779-00

PHYWE Systeme GmbH & Co. KG

Robert-Bosch-Breite 10
D-37079 Göttingen

Telephone +49 (0) 551 604-0

Fax +49 (0) 551 604-107
eMail info@phywe.de
Internet www.phywe.de

Operating instructions

This device complies

with EU regulations
Fig. 1: Photocell for determination of Planck's constant h with housing 06779-00

CONTENTS
2 PURPOSE AND PROPERTIES
1 SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
The photocell with housing serves the examination of the
outer photoelectric effect.
2 PURPOSE AND PROPERTIES
The properties of the outer photoelectric effect show in the
dependence of the current over voltage characteristic line of
3 FUNCTIONAL AND OPERATING ELEMENTS a photocell in dependence on intensity and wavelength of the
light entering the photocell.
4 NOTES ON OPERATION The interaction of photons with electrons, where an electron
completely absorbs a photon is called photo effect. In the re-
5 HANDLING action the electron gains energy and momentum of the pho-
ton.
6 EVALUATION If the electron resides inside a substance near the surface,
the electron may leave the substance if the gained energy is
sufficient.
7 TECHNICAL DATA
This electron emission of an illuminated surface is quoted
outer photoelectric effect. When leaving the substance, the
8 SCOPE OF DELIVERY electron loses its binding energy. This binding energy is
quoted electrochemical potential or work function. It depends
9 MATERIAL LIST on the state of binding the interacting electron.
Metals contain a high density of electron energy states in the
10 NOTES ON THE GUARANTEE vicinity of the Fermi level EFermi, to which the conduction band
of the metal is filled. Electrons in these states have all a simi-
11 WASTE DISPOSAL lar work function and have also high mobility and can interact
with the photons. So metals start to emit many electrons
when irradiated with photons of sufficient energy to lift the
electrons from Fermi level to the potential of the space out-
side the substance, that is to overcome the work function.
1 SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
The quantum efficiency of this process is low though, since
• Carefully read these operating instructions completely the momentum of the photon is mostly towards the substance
before operating this instrument. This is necessary to and there is a process needed to turn around the electron
avoid damage to it as well as for user safety. momentum or the photon is to react after or within the proc-
• Use this instrument only for the purpose for which it was ess of reflection.
designed. So without a further electrode an illuminated body will electri-

1
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cally charge until the then present positive charge on it re- 3 FUNCTIONAL AND OPERATING ELEMENTS
strains the electrons.
A photocell comprises inside a high vacuum tube a cathode
with low work function and an anode with a for metals typical
work function, which can gather the emitted electrons.
Since photo cells serve as light detectors, the cathode takes
most of the available surface and is facing the light while the
anode is positioned such that it least shadows the cathode
but still is in best reach of the electrons.
When cathode and anode are electrically connected, a cur-
rent starts to run. Since a fraction of the electrons is recap-
tured by the cathode – the energy of the electrons can even-
tually be lowered by entering the solid state – the photo cur-
rent rises if the anode is biased positive with respect to the
cathode. Then the field of the anode gathers the electrons
before they can drop back into the cathode. The photo cur-
rent saturates at the voltage that is sufficient to catch all the
emitted electrons. This photo current is strictly proportional to
illumination intensity.
If the anode is biased negatively with respect to the cathode,
with increasing voltage less and less electrons reach the an-
ode until finally the energy of the electrons emitted by the
cathode is no longer sufficient to overcome the electrical field
and reach the anode.
Fig. 2: Functional and operating elements of the photocell with
Thus the current characteristics of the photo cell at negative housing
bias – anode negative with respect to cathode – contains in-
formation about the energy spectrum of the electrons. 1 Slider for photocell aperture
A maximum electron energy appears to exist which does not slider with three positions, in middle position the photo-
depend on illumination intensity but on light frequency alone. cell is closed
This behaviour confirms the quantum properties of light. De- 2 Round aperture
termining of the dependence of the maximum kinetic energy for maximum light admittance
of the electrons on light frequency yields a linear correlation
between light frequency and photon energy. 3 Slit aperture
The linear constant between both is the Planck's constant for use with a grating spectrometer
and can so be determined with these measurements of cur-
rent characteristics. 4 Electrical connectors for the photocell
Due to electrons being also liberated from the anode by with two 4 mm-sockets for connecting cathode and an-
photo effect,, a negative current can be measured, if a nega- ode, cathode right
tive bias of sufficient strength is applied. This current is al- 5 Mount for lens- or diaphragm holder
ways present with illumination of sufficient energetic photons to fit standard 44 mm lens holders on
and has its own wavelength and intensity dependent charac-
teristics. It is by far lower in strength than the cathode cur-
rent. Additionally, thermal excitation and radioactivity can 4 NOTES ON OPERATION
generate a dark current which is again lower by orders of
magnitude. For precise control of the bias voltage it is recommended to
use a potentiometer circuit as bias supply to record the cur-
To achieve the strongest possible photo current per light in-
rent-voltage (I /U) characteristic.
tensity and the widest possible light frequency range re-
sponse, the cathode is coated with a material of especially Since the photo current is in the µA range, a measuring am-
low work function and a high density of electrons near the plifier or a sensitive ampere meter is recommended for cur-
surface. Furthermore the material should have a large sur- rent measurement, e.g. 07042-00 multi range meter with am-
face and is thus rough at microscopic scale. Such materials plifier, 13620-93 DC measuring amplifier or 13262-93 univer-
behave not necessarily like classical metals and in particular sal measuring amplifier.
the electron density over energy near the surface within The measuring circuit has to be connected such that the cur-
reach of the photons is no simple function. rent through the voltmeter is not recognised by the ammeter
The photocell response with respect to light intensity may (voltage error circuit) because the current through the voltme-
strongly depend on light wavelengths and may also be no ter with typical 1 MOhm input resistance at 1 Volt is with 1 µA
simple function of wavelength. of the same range as the photo current.
In many applications semiconductor photovoltaic cells have The illumination of the cell should be such, that a wavelength
replaced the photocell, because vacuum tubes are far more range of visible to UV light can be selected to enter the cell.
expensive to produce and harder to miniaturize than semi- This can be done with help of a spectral lamp emitting a line
conductor devices. The quantum efficiency of semiconductor spectrum of several narrow lines which can be selected using
photo detector cells is by far greater. colour or interference filters.
For special applications at extreme or extreme broad fre- Or else a wide-band emitting lamp like an incandescent lamp
quency ranges e.g. for UV light or spectrometers or at harsh is used and the desired wavelengths are selected with help of
surroundings those tubes will still find their use. interference filters or a grating spectrometer.
Fig 3 depicts an example for the connections for the re-
cording of a I /U characteristic with help of the universal
measuring amplifier 13626-93.

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 light in use (calculate this from the interference filter cen-
tral wavelength)
- Continue with the next interferrence filter

6 EVALUATION
The incoming photons supply the energy h f each, which af-
ter the emission of the electron from the cathode is split into
the cathode work function WC and the kinetic energy of the
electrons Wkin (if no other collisions slow the electrons down)
hf = WC + Wkin (1)
and the kinetic energy Wkin in case of the current zero point
I = 0 is used up completely to cross the bias voltage U0 and
the unknown contact voltage UAC between anode and cath-
ode,
e (U0 + UAC) = Wkin (2)
Fig. 3: Circuit for recording I /U characteristic with electron (elementary) charge e = 1.602•10-19 As.
For contact voltage it is:
5 HANDLING e UAC = e (UA – UC) = WA – WC (3)
The photocell housing can be mounted into a slide mount with the electrochemical potentials of anode and cathode UA
with help of the rod with thread enclosed in the delivery for and UC and the work function of the anode WA.
example for insertion in a grating spectrometer for wave-
This yields the linear function of frequency f
length selection assembled on an optical bench. Else it can
be placed directly on the table. e U0 = h f – WA (4)
or else
.
U0 = f – UA (5)

with the constants h and WA . By plotting the measured zero

current voltage U0 over frequency of the light Planck's con-
stant h can be read from the slope of the graph devided by
elementary charge e.

Fig. 4: Example of a experiment set-up with interference filters

Example for performing the experiment with the set-up of Fig.

4:
4
- Set amplifier to low drift mode, amplification 10 , time
constant 0.3 s
- Check zero point of the amplifier: Set the multimeter read-
ing to zero with the zeroing control when nothing is con- Fig. 5: Energy diagram for electrons, showing the conditions in the
nected to amplifier input photocell at illumination with light of λ = 436 nm. Here the
- Set the power supply to 3 V and 1 A bias voltage is just high enough that electrons cannot reach
the anode and current strength is zero, U0 = 1 V. The Fermi
- Attach one of the interference filters to the photocell levelsof cathode and anode differ by 1 eV correspondingly.
opening
- Put the photocell housing directly in front of the lamp, se-
lect the round aperture with the slider
- Note down the amplifier output voltage in dependence on
photocell bias voltage, bias 0...3 V
- The amplifier output voltage is proportional to photo cur-
rent, at 10 kOhm input resistance of the amplifier with
4
amplification factor 10 , 1 V at the output correspond to
current strength 10 nA
- Especially note down the bias voltage value at which the
photo current is zero and plot this over frequency of the

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 8 SCOPE OF DELIVERY
Table 1: Measurement example Photocell with housing
λ /nm U0 /V f /1012 Hz Rod 100 mm x 10 mm with M6 thread for mounting
366 -1,50 820
405 -1,20 741 9 MATERIAL LIST
436 -1,00 688 (as of Fig. 4)
1 x 06779-00 Photocell for h-determination, with housing
546 -0,50 550
1 x 08461-00 Interference filters, set of 3
578 -0,40 520 1 x 08463-00 Interference filters, set of 2
1 x 11601-00 Experimental lamp 5
With the data of table 1 the slope is 1 x 13505-93 Power supply, 0...12 V DC/ 6 V, 12 V AC
1 x 13626-93 Universal measuring amplifier
= 0,00366 V / THz
1 x 07122-00 Digital multimeter
and thus 1 x 06114-02 Rheostat 100 Ohm, 1.8 A
4 x 07361-01 Connecting cord, 32 A, 500 mm, red
h = 5,59 . 10-34 Js
3 x 07361-04 Connecting cord, 32 A, 500 mm, blue
to compare with literature value 1 x 07361-02 Connecting cord, 32 A, 500 mm, yellow
h = 6,63 . 10-34 Js 2 x 07361-05 Connecting cord, 32 A, 500 mm, black
1 x 07363-04 Connecting cord, 32 A, 1000 mm, blue

7 TECHNICAL DATA
10 NOTES ON THE GUARANTEE
We grant a warranty of 24 month inside EU and 12 month
outside EU for this device. Excluded from warranty are de-
fects due to disregard of the operating instructions, misuse or
usual wear.
The manufacturer can be held responsible for function and
security of the device, only if servicing, repair and technical
modifications have been executed by the manufacturer or
institutions explicitly authorized by the manufacturer.
mA / W

11 WASTE DISPOSAL
The packaging consists predominately of environmentally
sensitivity

compatible materials that can be passed on for disposal by

the local recycling service.

Should you no longer require this product,

do not dispose of it with the household re-
fuse.
Contact your local authorities for proper dis-
posal or return it to the address below:

PHYWE Systeme GmbH & Co. KG

Abteilung Kundendienst
Robert-Bosch-Breite 10
D-37079 Göttingen
light wavelength nm
Telefon +49 (0) 551 604-274
Fax +49 (0) 551 604-246
Fig. 6: Sensitivity of the Bb-Cs cathode in use in the photocell in
comparison to other cathode materials

active diameter 15 mm
wavelength range 185…650 nm
best sensitivity at 340 nm
cathode material Sb-Cs
sensitivity 110 µA/lm
70 mA/Watt
maximum cathode current 6 µA
maximum allowed voltage 100 V
operating voltage 15 V
dark current at 15 V 2,0 pA
cell capacity 2 pF

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