photoelectric
Americanadjective
adjective
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Relating to or exhibiting to electrical effects upon exposure to light. For example, some photoelectric materials emit electrons called photoelectrons upon exposure to certain frequencies of light; others, such as photoresistors and phototransistors, change their electrical properties.
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See also photoelectric effect
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of photoelectric
Vocabulary lists containing photoelectric
Physics - High School
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Electromagnetic Radiation - High School
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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.
The new device relies on a phenomenon known as the in-plane photoelectric effect.
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026
When such particles enter a chamber in the device, they scatter light from a small light source, which is then picked up by a photoelectric sensor.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2026
QDs are semiconducting nanocrystals with typical dimensions ranging from several to tens of nanometers, capable of controlling photoelectric properties based on their particle size.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 21, 2024
At Cal Tech, physicist Robert Millikan brought home the first of Southern California’s dozens of Nobel Prizes “for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2023
He was quite close to Herbie now, eyes fixed fascinatedly on those unreadable dull-red photoelectric cells that were the robot’s eyes.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
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