Analysis of electron diraction through graphite A. R.

Dyer University of Texas at Austin

Abstract This experiment demonstrates that electron particles behave like waves and can diract. We used a cathode ray tube which accelerated electrons through graphite and calipers to collect data on illuminated diraction patterns at various voltages and used that data to show that electrons can be described deBroglies and Braggs Law. Our data found that 2 rings of diraction were produced regardless of voltage and that the two two relations were preserved.

Introduction Our experiment demonstrates the dual particle-wave nature of electrons. Through this process we also demonstrated how diraction is used to describe molecular structure along with verify Braggs law, which describes diraction behavior through a crystal based on angle, wavelength and aperture length. Some initial signs for particle-wave duality are interference patterns. These were produced in our experiment by accelerating electrons through a graphite crystal which worked as a diraction grating. We observed regions of constructive and destructive interference from an illuminated uorescent lm inside a cathode ray tube. Measuring the radii of the fringes and voltages we we were able to acquire enough data to make our conclusions. This procedure is the product of work by Thomas Young who in the 19th century proposed that light could be described as waves by a the double slit experiment. [?] In the original double slit experiment light diracted from small openings in a window which created patterns of interference. Today, X-ray crystallography, a very similar process to the one in this experiment, is used frequently to explore the microscopic structure ranging from metallurgy to DNA biology. Theory We were motivated to show wave behavior of electrons since electrons classically have been modeled as particles. To show this, we needed conditions where the aperture spacing was comparable to the wavelength of an electron. The gaps used for diraction are sensitive because the value of is inversely proportional to that value and angle must stay su ciently large to resolve interference patterns according to Braggs Law: n = 2d sin() (1)

Where n is an integer, is wavelength and d is gap size. This equation was constructed to give the angles for constructive and destructive scattering from a crystal lattice and is very similar to the original Youngs equation for a double slit. 1

Figure 1: Incident X ray Braggs Law can easily be derived by considering the conditions necessary to make the phases of the beams coincide when the incident angle equals the reecting angle. [3] The rays of the incident beam are always in phase and parallel up to the point at which the top beam strikes a surface molecule, z. See g. 1. The second beam continues to the next plane where it is scattered by molecule B. The second beam must travel the extra distance AB + BC if the two beams are to continue traveling adjacent and parallel. This extra distance must be an integer (n) multiple of the wavelength for the phases of the two beams to be the same: n = AB + BC d, the lattice separation become the hypotenuse of a right triangle so we can use it to relate the distance AB + BC through some trigonometry: AB = dsin() and because AB = CD n = 2AB (3) where eq. 2 and 3 can be combined to arrive at Braggs Law. When the radiation is ejected and diracted through the graphite lattice the beams, using our equipment, illuminate a curved surface of the bulb vacuum tube. To simplify the results in terms of theory, adjustments were made that simulate that the particles hit a at screen. To correct for this issue, we used trigonometric equations to construct a angle useful for calculation in Braggs law. See gure 2, where R is the radius of the diraction tube bulb, D is the length between the electron ejector and r is the radius of the diraction 2 (2)

Screen used for theory

-2 Electron Ejector 2

Actual Screen

L-R L

Figure 2: vacuum tube with varying beam lengths ring or fringe measured with calipers across the vacuum tube. is the angle between incident ray and scattering planes. Note the vertical dashed line representing the location of the new screen. Figure 2 was described trigonometrically using: tan() = and by identity sin() = and cos() =
p R2 r 2 R r R r L R+Rcos()

We solved for which is directly applicable to Braggs law. = arctan( r p (L + R) + R2 r2 ) (4)

L, the length across the bulb to the electron ejector was .14 m. Because electrons classically are modeled as particles, nding a wavelength requires another notable equation: Debroglies relation(5). This is the method in which quantum 3

mechanics describes point particles as waves and is applicable to electrons in our experiment: h = (5) Using the equation below, which is the classical physics relation between momentum and kinetic energy: Ee = we get the practical result: (angstroms) = p = 2(eV )m h s 151.3 V (volts) (6)
2 2m

= eV

Using eq. 4 to compensate for the spherical shape of our vacuum tube and eq. 6 with Braggs law and assuming that RL, we found that: (L rd p r) R2 r2 =n = p nh 2eV m (7)

From this equation we can calculate electron momentum, Debroglie wavelength and verify Braggs law for the electrons. Under ideal conditions the described set-up creates 2 circular fringes and center bright spot. These results partially describe the lattice structure of the crystal. A center spot illuminates because the majority of the electrons pass through the crystal without diraction. The illuminated rings are identied as interference patterns because they do not display standard theoretical distribution for particles reecting from the crystal. The crystal itself is powder or polycrystalline, where the locations of maximum intensity on the uorescent screen are the sum of all diraction patterns created from each randomly orientated crystal contacted. The randomly orientated parts of the polycrystalline are why circular patterns are produced as opposed to lines of diraction. The number of fringes also describes nature of the crystal. Only molecular planes separating adjacent unit cells will generate Bragg diraction, because only those planes repeat exactly throughout the lattice. The structure of graphite, specically, is a set of hexagonal or honeycomb lattice layers each called graphene. See gure 3. Due to the hexagonal shape of graphite only two fringes form. Other crystal formations create a dierent number of fringes with dierent value of diraction pattern separations and in this way we can distinguish microscopic crystalline structures. Procedure The most important piece equipment for this lab was the Instek Electron diraction tube. This accelerates the electrons, holds the graphite source and illuminates the locations of high intensity with a uorescent lm. We powered the device with two power sources. 4

Figure 3: graphite structure The cathode, which ejects the electrons stored on its oxidized surface, we powered with a 5 kV Teltron power source. This also powered a lament which separated the electrons from the cathode via thermionic emission. The anode, we powered by a separate GW digital Instek power source. See gure 3, which displays the location of each component in the diraction tube. After this set-up we took data by rst testing to nd a range of voltages for both power sources where the following criterion were satised: 1. anode voltage would remain constant 2. fringes would remain bright enough to measure and 3. current did not exceed the .1 mAmp mark. Currents above that value create detrimental working conditions to the diraction tube where permanent damage may be incurred to the lament and to the barrier which collimates the electron beam. The power source settings we concluded for our experiment used anode voltage steady at 3.5 and our cathode voltage from 3 to 5 with increments of .5 kilovolts with an error of .1 volts for all values. For each voltage of our cathode, we recorded the radii of each the two circle fringes which appeared on the screen with a caliper. These values of voltages and radii are all that were needed for analysis. Analysis The primary motivation for this experiment was the exhibition of wave-like behavior which is evident from the the creation of the fringes on the uorescent screen. The wavelength of the electrons, a function of the cathode voltage, was calculated from eq. 6 and were 5.50, 5.80, 6.15, 6.57, 7.10 angrstoms pm .008. Alternatively, momentums were also be calculated from DeBroglies relation simply solving for it which were (gure 5) (eV/c) . Note that at each voltage only two visible fringes were visible demonstrating the eectiveness of using crystal diraction or crystallography to identify molecular structure. From eq (7) we were also able to determine an approximate lattice spacing which was compared 5

Figure 4: Diraction Tube Set-up

Figure 5: momentum

Figure 6: Fringe Data to diraction pattern ratio in gure (6). This relationship demonstrates how Braggs law is preserved. Lattice separation deviates by a small margin when compared to the ratio of diraction patterns. average it was calculated at 7.36 with an error of .77 m. Under A more exact measurement for lattice spacing of Graphite, d was 688 pm which falls within the range of error. Deviation was calculated by taking into consideration the maximum conceivable error when the measuring fringe radii with calipers and using the standard methods for propagation of error though the calculations. Conclusion The experiment has show that even particles are able to behave like waves. It also has shown the the eectiveness of Braggs and Debroglies relations for describing the diraction behavior of electrons. Reference

References
A [1] Leslie Lamport, L TEX: A Document Preparation System. Addison Wesley, Massachusetts, 2nd Edition, 1994.

[2] Equations for Error Propagation, LABS/AppendixB/AppendixB.html, 7

http://teacher.pas.rochester.edu/PHY

[3] Braggs Law and Diraction: How waves reveal the atomic structure of crystals, http://www.eserc.stonybrook.edu/ProjectJava/Bragg/, Konstantin Lukin, Jan 2010 [4] Magie, William Francis (1935), A Source Book in Physics, Harvard University Press. p. 309