Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Fundamentals: Wavelength of a electron

Wavelength of electron depends on momentum of electron related by the debroy's equation , wavelength = h / momentum.
The momentum of the electron is basically depends on its speed which can be controlled by the accelerating potential,Va related by the equation eV = 1/2 mv2. The large accelerating potential result is shorter wavelength. Hence the accelerating potential needed to produce crystal diffraction pattern is few thousand volts.