Lecture 2 - Blackbody radiation

Absorption and emission of radiation

What is the blackbody spectrum?
Properties of the blackbody spectrum
Classical approach to the problem
Plancks suggestion - energy quantisation
Bose-Einstein statistics
Objectives
Learn how classical theories cannot account for the spectral distribution of
light from blackbody objects such as stars etc.
Show that by making the assumption that light consists of small packets
of energy (photons) we can develop an expression which perfectly fits the
experimental data.
Blackbody radiation
Heated bodies radiate energy, but what is the mechanism? On an atomic
scale, heat causes the molecules and atoms of a solid to vibrate. As atoms
consist of electrical charges in the form of electrons and protons, it is the
vibration of these charges which is responsible for the emission of
electromagnetic radiation. A very hot object will emit visible light as the
electrons vibrate.
How do bodies absorb radiation?
In order to radiate energy, an object must first absorb it.
Suppose we shine a light on an object.
If we shine it on glass Light passes through
If we shine it on a metal Light is reflected
If we shine it on carbon Light is absorbed
In glass the electrons are tightly bound to atoms and only oscillate at
certain frequencies outside the range of visible light. This makes glass
appear transparent as very little of the visible light is absorbed.
Blackbody radiation II
Metals conduct and have free electrons not bound to any particular atom.
These electrons oscillate in response to the light and then radiate light
themselves. This radiation is reflected light. Again, there is very little
absorption of light, most of it is reflected.
The electrons in carbon have a short mean free path, when they collide
their energy is transferred to the lattice. They are efficient absorbers of
the incident light, hence carbon appears black. Carbon and similar
materials are effective at converting incident light into heat.
In a reverse process, as the carbon atoms warm up and vibrate more
vigorously, more of the lattice energy is transferred to the free electrons,
thus carbon is also a good radiator of heat. It cools down much faster
than a metal as it is more efficient at converting the lattice energy into
radiation.
Measuring the distribution of emitted radiation
A simple spectroscope
If we pass white light through a prism we obtain a spectrum.
By measuring the intensity of each wavelength of light in the spectrum we
can plot the spectral distribution.
The blackbody spectrum
Consider a box with a small hole in the side. Radiation entering the hole is
scattered inside the box and only a small amount comes out again. If the
temperature of the box is in equilibrium the spectrum of light coming out
of the hole looks something like this.
0
0.5x10
-8
1.0x10
-8
1.5x10
-8
2.0x10
-8
0
0.5x10
15
1.0x10
15
1.5x10
15
2.0x10
15
T 3000K
T 6000K
Frequency (Hz)
U
(
I
)

(
a
r
b
.

u
n
i
t
s
)
U( f )
= Intensity of
radiation of frequency
f
.
We find similar spectral
distributions if we measure
the light from stars.
Typical blackbody spectra
From red hot to white hot
The colour of a hot object changes as the temperature increases
Properties of the blackbody spectrum
For small f, U is proportional to f
2
. But at some value of f there is a peak
before U falls to zero.
If we double the temperature the position of the peak doubles in
frequency (
f
peak
T
) (Wiens displacement law), however the height of
the peak is multiplied eight times.
Why? U f
2
so if the temperature is constant
U( 2 f )4U ( f )
, but we
doubled the temperature so in fact
U( 2T )8U (T )
.
The total energy radiated by the body, the area under the curve,
increases by a factor of 16, i.e 2
4
times more, when the temperature is
doubled.
Stefans law of radiation: UcT
4
,
c
= 5.6710
-8
W/m
2
/K
4
- Stefans
constant.
U
is the energy radiated from 1m
2
of black surface at
temperature
T
.
Wien's displacement law
f
peak
aT
or
\
peak
T b
, b =2.89810
-3
mK (Wiens displacement law).
For frequency
f
peak
2.82 k
B
T h
.
k
B
= Boltzmanns constant = 1.380710
-23
J/K. Note that
f
peak
\
peak
=c
.
Relationship between emitted radiation and radiation
inside the cavity
The energy (electromagnetic radiation) comes out of the hole at a speed
c. Some of the light comes out at an angle and the hole appears smaller.
Emitted radiation = R, radiation inside the cavity = P
Energy incident at an angle on a
hole of unit area.
R
|
0
2 n
|
0
n 2
cPcos
(
d D
4n
)
,
d Dsin d d
R
|
0
2 n
|
0
n 2
cPcos sin d d
|
0
2 n
cP
8n
d
cP
4
So
RcP 4
.
The energy emitted from the hole is representative of the energy inside
the cavity.
P
c
m

A = cos
Origins of the spectrum
The energy spectrum is formed by a continuous process of absorption and
re-emission of radiation by the atoms and molecules forming the walls of
the box. In this way the energy can shift from one mode to another. When
thermal equilibrium is reached the characteristic spectrum will be
established.
To form a theoretical description of the spectrum we need to determine
how many modes of oscillation have frequencies in a given energy range.
These oscillators are the electromagnetic waves inside the box, which can
be thought of as standing waves.
Modes in a box
The electric field at the cavity wall must be zero
Standing waves I
Pluck a string
n1
n2 n3
n4
n
(
\
2
)
L
The natural modes of vibration of the string are standing waves with
nodes at the ends. In the same way, electromagnetic waves inside the
box are also standing waves.
Standing waves II
-1.0
-0.5
0
0.5
1.0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
n1
n2
n3
Position (x/a) (arb. units)
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
Standing waves inside a cavity of length a.
The standing waves have amplitude
vAsin( 2nx \) sin( 2n ft )
.
Let k2n\ , and
o2n f
then
vAsin( kx)sin(ot )
.
If the box has sides of length
a
then
an(\ 2)
for n 1,2,3.
The frequencies of these waves are
f c \n( c 2a)
.
So
knn a
and
ock
.
K space
We can represent the standing waves in 3D space by a set of k vectors

k( k
x
, k
v
, k
:
)
n
a
(l , m, n)
.
Each point can be associated with a cubic volume of space and represents
a frequency of ockc
.
k
x
2
+k
v
2
+k
:
2
, the volume of the associated space is
n
3
a
3
.
For a fixed frequency,
o
, we obtain a set of values for
k
x
,
k
v
and
k
:
which lie on a spherical surface:
o
2
c
2
k
x
2
+k
v
2
+k
:
2
with radius
ko c
.
To get the total number of vibrational modes in the frequency range zero
to o we count the number of cubes contained in the sphere with radius
ko c
.
N
cubes
Jolume between spheres/volume of cube.
K-space II
Each mode occupies a discrete volume of K-space.
Mode counting
The volume of the whole sphere is 4nk
3
3 , but we are limited to positive
values of k , i.e. one octant of the sphere, so the volume becomes
J
s

1
8

4nk
3
3

nk
3
6
.
Now
k
3

o
3
c
3
and o2n f so
k
3

8n
3
f
3
c
3
.
If J
cube
n
3
a
3
, the total number of cubes, N , is
J
s
J
cube
, so
N
8n f
3
a
3
6c
3
.
Putting, Ja
3
, differentiating with respect to f , and multiplying by two
because we can have two orthogonal transverse electromagnetic waves at
each frequency we get
N ( f )
df

8n f
2
J
c
3
.
Comparison with experiment
In the classical approach we assign each mode an energy
k
B
T
. The total
energy emitted at each frequency from a box of unit volume is given by
N ( f )k
B
TU
RJ
( f )
8n f
2
c
3
k
B
T
This is the Rayleigh-Jeans approximation (1900).
k
B
is Boltzmanns
constant = 1.38110
-23
J/K.
We find good agreement between the Rayleigh-Jeans equation and the
observed results for low values of f , i.e. where U( f ) f
2
. The higher the
temperature the bigger the frequency range over which the agreement is
good. Doubling the temperature doubles the energy output at low
frequencies, as expected from the proportionality to T .
However, at higher frequencies the experimental and theoretical results
diverge. We expect more energy to be output at higher frequencies, but in
experiments the energy distribution falls to zero. This failure of the
Reyleigh-Jeans model is sometimes called the "UV catastrophe.
Planck's suggestion
Planck suggested that energy could only be emitted in chunks that are
multiples of hf , where h is Plancks constant (6.62610
-34
Js).
Experimentally, we can see this reflected in the fact that
f
peak
T
. By
doubling the temperature the number of modes that can radiate freely is
also doubled.
From this explanation it is clear that if the average energy per mode is
k
B
T
and the value hf for a particular mode is, e.g.,
5k
B
T
, that mode will
be unlikely to radiate. As the frequency increases, the probability of
radiation decreases.
Replacing
Uk
B
T
with
Uhf
in the Rayleigh-Jeans equation gives
U
Planck
( f )
8n f
2
c
3
hf P
BE
( f ) , where
P
BE
( f )
is the Bose-Einstein factor for
the average number of photons per mode at frequency
f
.
hf P
BE
( f )
is the average energy,
E,
, of photons with frequency
f
.
The Bose-Einstein factor
We assume that the probability of occupying an energy level E is given by
P( E)oe
-E k
B
T
. This was proved by Planck.
Energy levels of a quantum oscillator
N
1
N
0
e
-hf k
B
T
N
2
N
0
e
-2hI k
B
T
N
n
N
0
e
-nhf k
B
T
Let
xhf k
B
T
, then N
1
N
0
e
-x
, N
2
N
0
e
-2x
, so N
Total
N
0
(1+e
-x
+e
-2x
+...) .
E
n
N
n
nhf ( N
0
e
-nx
)nhf N
0
hf (ne
-nx
) and E
Total
N
0
hf ( 0+e
-x
+2e
-2x
+...) .
N
3
N
1
N
2
N
0
E
0
= 0
E
1
= hf
E
2
= 2hf
E
3
= 3hf
P
0
= A
P
1
= Aexp(-hf/k
B
T)
P
2
= Aexp(-2hf/k
B
T)
P
3
= Aexp(-3hf/k
B
T)
The Bose-Einstein factor II
The average energy is given by
E,
E
Total
N
Total

N
0
hf
_
n
ne
-nx
N
0
_
n
e
-nx
hfP
BE
( f )
P
BE
( f )
_
n
ne
-nx
_
n
e
-nx
-
d
dx
log
_
n
e
-nx
-
d
dx
log
1
1-e
-x

1
e
x
-1

1
e
hf k
B
T
-1
So our final result is
U
Planck
( f )
8n f
2
c
3

hf
e
hf k
B
T
-1
.
Even though this is proportional to f
3
the Bose-Einstein term reduces the
energy to zero at high frequencies. At low frequencies the term on the
right approximates to 1, matching the Rayleigh-Jeans approximation.
As
f -0
or
T -
the average energy approaches
k
B
T
, the same as the
classical result.
Various blackbody spectra
Conclusions
Classical physics, in which electromagnetic radiation is assumed to be a
continuous wave, cannot account for the blackbody radiation spectrum.
The assumption that electromagnetic radiation is emitted in quanta with
energy Ehf allows us to develop an expression which accurately
describes the spectral distribution of radiation emitted from a blackbody.