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The Variation of the Photoelectric Current with Thickness of Metal
Phys. Rev. 20, 65 – Published 1 July, 1922
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.20.65
Abstract
Silver and platinum deposited in the form of transparent and semitransparent wedges were examined for variation of the photoelectric current as thickness of the metal was increased. The metal was deposited on quartz by the evaporation method and examined when monochromatic light fell on the metal side of the plate.
The results are found to be consistent with the view that the probability of an electron going a given distance without losing its ability to escape falls off exponentially with the distance, when this distance is less than about 40 μμ. Up to this thickness there is a parallelism between optical absorption and photoelectric emission. For large wave-lengths this parallelism is more pronounced than for short wave-lengths. For greater wave-lengths optical absorption may increase, but photoelectric emission decreases terminating at the threshold value of photoelectric sensitivity.
The results seem to support the view that photoelectric emission is probably not caused by the absorption of energy from the incident light beam, the light only acting as the agent which sets the electron free from its parent atom.
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