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photocurrent

American  
[foh-toh-kur-uhnt, -kuhr-] / ˈfoʊ toʊˌkɜr ənt, -ˌkʌr- /

noun

Physics.
  1. an electric current produced by a photoelectric effect.


photocurrent British  
/ ˈfəʊtəʊˌkʌrənt /

noun

  1. an electric current produced by electromagnetic radiation in the photoelectric effect, photovoltaic effect, or photoconductivity

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of photocurrent

First recorded in 1910–15; photo- + current

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

An effect known as the "photo-Nernst effect" generates the photocurrent whose direction is controlled by the external magnetic field.

From Science Daily • Sep. 19, 2023

A photocurrent is an electric current induced by the action of light.

From Science Daily • Sep. 19, 2023

"Our experiments show that photocurrent streamline microscopy is a robust new experimental tool to visualize a photocurrent in quantum materials. This tool helps us look at how electrons behave badly."

From Science Daily • Sep. 19, 2023

We compared photocurrent results to spectroscopic results reported in previous literature in Fig. 3C.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 15, 2011

The EQE is a spectrally resolved photocurrent measured under zero external bias and represents the ratio of photocarriers collected by an external circuit to the number of incident photons at a given wavelength.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 15, 2011