Wave picture of Particle

Wave Packet
• wave velocity, group velocity of de Broglie waves
• wave packets
• wave packets under Fourier Transform.
• Davisson and Germer’s experiment
• G.P. Thomson’s experiment
• Consequences of De Broglie concepts Bohr
Quantization
• Principle, design and working of electron
microscope
 Addition of Two Waves
Two sine waves traveling in the same direction:
Constructive and Destructive Interference
 
y ( x, t )  A sin( kx  t )  A sin( kx  t   )  2 A cos( ) sin( kx  t  )
2 2
Two sine waves traveling in opposite directions create a standing wave

y( x, t )  A sin( kx  t )  A sin( kx  t )  2 A sin kx cost

Two sine waves with different frequencies: Beats

y ( x, t )  A sin( k1 x  1t )  A sin( k 2 x  2t )

(k1  k 2) (1  2 ) (k1  k 2) (1  2)
 2 A cos[ x t ] sin[ x t]
2 2 2 2
(k1  k 2 ) (1  2 )
 2 A cos[(k / 2) x  ( / 2)t ] sin[ x t]
2 2
 Review of wave
Beat Notes and Group Velocity, vg
(k1  k 2) (1  2)
y ( x, t )  2 A cos[(k / 2) x  ( / 2)t ] sin[ x t]
2 2
This represents a beat note with the amplitude of the beat moving at speed

v g  ( / 2) /( k / 2)   / v
d
For superposition of continuous distributi on of waves : v g 
dk
 Beats and Pulses
Two tuning forks are struck simultaneously. The vibrate at 512 and 768 Hz.
(a) What is the separation between peaks in the beat envelope?
(b) What is the velocity of the beat envelope?
(k1  k 2) (1  2)
(a) y ( x, t )  2 A cos[(k / 2) x  ( / 2)t ] sin[ x t]
2 2
The rapidly oscillating wave is multiplied by a more slowly varying envelope
with wave vector k / 2  (k 2  k1 ) / 2
v phase   / k  2f /( 2 /  )  f ,
v phase is the speed of sound , 344 m / s (770 mph)
k 2  2 / v phase  2f 2 / v phase  2 768 / 344  14.03 m 1
k1  1 / v phase  2f1 / v phase  2 512 / 344  9.35 m 1
kbeat  (k 2  k1 ) / 2  (14.0  9.35) / 2  2.33 m 1
Dis tan ce between beat notes : beat  2 / kbeat  2 / 2.33  2.70 m
(b) vbeat  ( / 2) /( k / 2)  2 (768  512 ) /(14.03  9.35)  344
Expected result sin ce speed of sound is independent ofwavelength so vbeat  v phase
 “Construction” Particles From Waves
• Particles are localized in space
• Waves are extended in space.
• It is possible to build “localized” entities from a
superposition of number of waves with different
values of k-vector. For a continuum of waves, the
superposition is an integral over a continuum of
waves with different k-vectors.
– The wave then has a non-zero amplitude only within a
limited region of space
• Such wave is called “wave packet”
 The wave of Particle
Superposition of waves
 The Wave of Particle
Wave Packet Particle-like
 Group Velocity for Particles and Waves
• The group velocity in term of particle parameters is

d dE   dE
vg   
dk dp   dp
• Consider a free non-relativistic particle. The total,
energy for this particle is, E = Ek = p2/2m

dE dEk d  p2  p
vg      
dp dp dp  2m  m
p mu particle
vg    u particle
m m
 Group Velocity
• The group speed of wave packet is identical to the
speed of the corresponding particle,
dE
uparticle  vg 
dp
• Is this true for photon, for which u = c?
• For photon total energy E = p·c

vg 
dE d
 pc  c
dp dp
 How about Phase Velocity

• More than C ?
 The wave of Particle
The Superposition of waves
 Wave Picture of Particle
• Consider a wave packet made up of waves with a
distribution of wave vectors k, A(k), at time t. A
snapshot, of the wave in space along the x-
direction is obtained by summing over waves with
the full distribution of k-vectors. For a continuum
this is an integral.
• The spatial distribution at a time t given by:


 ( x, t )   A(k )e i ( kx  t )
dk
0
 Wave Picture of Particle
1. A(k) is spiked at a given k0, and
zero elsewhere
• only one wave with k = k0 (λ = λ0)
contributes; thus one knows
momentum exactly, and the
wavefunction is a traveling wave –
particle is delocalized
2. A(k) is the same for all k
• No distinctions for momentums, so
particle’s position is well defined -
the wavefunction is a “spike”,
representing a “very localized”
particle
3. A(k) is shaped as a bell-curve
• Gives a wave packet – “partially”
localized particle