Lamb 1969 states,
A misconception which most physicists acquire in their formative years is that the photoelectric effect requires the quantization of the electromagnetic field for its explanation. [...] In fact we shall see that the photoelectric effect may be completely explained without invoking the concept of "light quanta."
The paper gives a description in which an atom is ionized by light, with the atom being treated quantum-mechanically but the light being treated as a classical wave.
Is it true that all the standard treatments in textbooks are getting this wrong?
Lamb and Scully "The photoelectric effect without photons," in "Polarization, Matière et Rayonnement," Volume in Honour of A. Kastler (Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1969) -- can be found online by googling
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