EEOP6315

HomeworkAssignment1

Problem1.
Inwords,pictures,andequations,discusstheeikonalequationanditsimplicationsinray
optics.

Theeikonalequationisthemathematicalrelationbetweengeometricalwavefrontsand
theresultingopticalrayseachwavefront.Definingarayasacurvethatisperpendicular,
orunitnormal,toagivenwavefrontateverypointralongthecurvatureofthewavefront.
Mathematically, the ray points in the direction of . The eikonal equation is the
mathematicalbridgebetweenwaveopticsandrayoptics.Inahomogeneousmediumin
whichisequaltoaconstant,theraysmusttravelparalleltooneanotheracrosstheentire
surfacesince isalsoconstant. However,inaninhomogeneousmedium,since isnot
constant,theeikonalequationidentifiesthesurfaceswithequalindicesofrefractionand
theresultantnormalraysasseeninfigure1 1.Thesurfacesdefinedbytheequationare
thegeometricalwavefronts.
Figure1

DerivationfromMaxwellsequations
With the equations for a general timeharmonic field in a nonconducting isotropic
medium,
itisfoundthatthevectorsandsatisfyMaxwellsequationswhenindependentoftime.
Inregionsfreeofchargeandcurrent,
where,beingthewavelengthinavacuum.
Additionally,ahomogeneousplanewaveinamediumwithanindexofrefractionofand
propagatinginthedirectionoftheunitvectorscanbemodeledbytheequations,
whereeandharevectorswithconstantandmostlycomplexvalues.Withthisexample,
alongwithfindingsofamonochromaticelectricdipolefieldinavacuum,
where r is the distance from the dipole. Inthis example however, e and h are not
constant vectors. But with distances very far away from the dipole relative to the
wavelengthandwithappropriatenormalizationofthedipolemoment,thesevectorsare
showntobeindependentof.
Thesetwocaseslendthemselvestoexaminingregionsmanywavelengthsawayfromthe
sourceswithmoregeneraltypesoffieldssuchthat
where,describedastheopticalpath,isarealscalarpositionfunctionandandarevector
functionsofposition.
Next,relatingthefunctions,,andusingvariousvectoridentities,
andthensubstitutingthesevaluesintotheoriginalequationsfromthebeginningofthe
derivationyields
However,theregionofinterestiswhere isverylargesuchthattherightsideofthe
equationsabovegotozero.

Makingpropersubstitutionsandeliminationsyields
.
Substitutingtheidentitiesaboveyields
where.

Problem2.
Usingraymatricesderivetheoverallroundtripmatrixforalasercavitycomprising2
spherical mirrors (curvatures R1 and R2) separated by a distance d. Under what
conditionsisthiscavitystableintheKogelnikandLisense?
Solution
TheABCDmatrixtransformationisasfollows:

where
and
Inordertofindtheeigenvalues,thedeterminantofthematrixiscalculatedandsolvedin
thefollowingmanner:

Theresultingquadraticformulaisasfollows:
Forstabilityoftheresonantsystem,thetwoeigenvaluesmusthaveanabsolutevalueof1
orless.TranslatingtheseconstraintsintothestabilitycriteriathatKogelnikandLihave
putforthforastablesphericalcavity

whichinturnleadstotheirfindingsinasimpleparaxialcavitysuchthat