Photoelectric Franck-Hertz experiment and its kinetic analysis by Monte Carlo simulation.

The electrical characteristics of a photoelectric Franck-Hertz cell are measured in argon gas over a wide range of pressure, covering conditions where elastic collisions play an important role, as well as conditions where ionization becomes significant. Photoelectron pulses are induced by the fourth harmonic UV light of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser. The electron kinetics, which is far more complex compared to the naive picture of the Franck-Hertz experiment, is analyzed via Monte Carlo simulation. The computations provide the electrical characteristics of the cell, the energy and velocity distribution functions, and the transport parameters of the electrons, as well as the rate coefficients of different elementary processes. A good agreement is obtained between the cell's measured and calculated electrical characteristics, the peculiarities of which are understood by the simulation studies.