Question 11.4 Monochromatic light of wavelength 632.8 nm is produced by a
helium-neon laser. The power emitted is 9.42 mW.

(a) Find the energy and momentum of each photon in the light beam,

(b) How many photons per second, on average, arrive at a target irradiated by this beam? (Assume the beam to have a uniform cross-section which is less than the target area), and

(c) How fast does a hydrogen atom have to travel in order to have the same momentum as that of the photon?

(a) 
Hint: \(E=\frac{hc}{\lambda}\)

Step 1: Find the energy of each photon.
The photons have the energy as:

E=hcλ=6.626×1034×3×108632.8×109=3.141×1019J
 

Step 2: Find the momentum of each photon.
\(Momentum,~p=\frac{h}{\lambda}\)
\(\Rightarrow~p=\frac{6.626\times10^{-34}}{632.8}=1.047\times10^{-27}~kg~ms^{-1}\)


(b) 
Hint:
P=nE
Step: Find the number of photons.
P = nE
Therefore, n= P/E

=9.42×1033.141×1019=3×1016 photons/s 

(c)
Hint:
p=mv
Step: Find the speed of hydrogen atom.
P= 1.047 x 10-27 kg m/s
Momentum is given as:
p=mv
Where,
v= speed of hydrogen atom

Therefore, v = p/m

=1.047×10271.66×1027=0.621  m/s.