Plane Electromagnetic wave

Polarisation of plane wave:

The polarisation oI a plane wave can be deIined as the orientation oI the electric Iield vector as a Iunction oI time at a Iixed
point in space. For an electromagnetic wave, the speciIication oI the orientation oI the electric Iield is suIIicent as the
magnetic Iield components are related to electric Iield vector by the Maxwell's equations.
Let us consider a plane wave travelling in the z direction. The wave has both E
x
and E
y
components.
..........................................(6.45)
The corresponding magnetic Iields are given by,


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Depending upon the values oI
4
and
4
we can have several possibilities:
1. II
4
0, then the wave is linearly polarised in the -direction.
2. II
4
0, then the wave is linearly polarised in the -direction.
3. II
4
and
4
are both real (or complex with equal phase), once again we get a linearly polarised
wave with the axis oI polarisation inclined at an angle , with respect to the x-axis. This is
shown in Iig 6.4.
Plane Electromagnetic wave


ig 6.4 : Linear Polarisation
Plane Electromagnetic wave

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Let

Then,

and ....................................(6.46)

Plane Electromagnetic wave

4. II 4 and 4 are complex with diIIerent phase angles, will not point to a single spatial direction. This is explained as
Iollows:
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From equation (6.46) we Iind that,


.....................................(6.47)

Plane Electromagnetic wave
To keep the things simple, let us consider a 0 and . Further, let us study the nature oI the electric Iield on the z 0
plain.
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Plane Electromagnetic wave

and the electric Iield vector at z 0 can be written as
.............................................(6.48)
Assuming , the plot oI Ior various values oI t is hown in Iigure 6.5.

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Figure 6.5 : PIot of 49
PIane EIectromagnetic wave



The dielectric constant of the medium=81





EIectromagnetic Waves

2. A plane wave travelling along +z direction is incident normally on a perfect conducting wall at z=0.The reflected field is given by

(a) Determine the incident field and its polarisation.
(b) Determine the current density induced on the conducting wall.
$oI ution : Tangential component of the electric field is zero on a metallic wall.


and
At z=0


t represents a right hand circularly polarized wave.

Figure P6.1

(b) At z=0









3. The magnetic field component of a plane wave in a lossless non magnetic dielectric medium is given by

Determine
(a)Wavelength and wave velocity
(b)Electric field component and polarization of the wave.
$oI ution :
(a)



(b)
Also




This is a linearly polarized wave travelling along x.


4. An uniform palne wave, polarized along x is travelling along z direction in a non magnetic mediu, having dielectric constant 3 and loss
tangent 0.01. f the frequency of operation is 1.5GHz, determine the distance over which the amplitude of the propagating wave will be
reduced to 1/2 of its origianl value.
$oI ution : The equation of the wave is given by

At z=0 amplitude is
At the amplitude is



or a low loss dielectric,



The wave amplitude reduces to half its original value after travelling a distance of 2.55mt

5. n a non magnetic material, the magnetic filed is given by

Determine the time average power crossing the surface defined by
$oI ution :

or
or

Now in the phasor form is given by



Now,
The wave is traveling along x. We observe that !,; is not a function of x. The area normal to wave propagation is .

6.A unif orm plane wave in air with impinges normally on a surface at x=0 of a highly conducting medium having constitutive
parameters , and such that . Determine the fraction of incident power that is absorbed by the medium.
$oI ution :
n a good conductor where

n air and
Now reflection coefficient





raction of incident power absorbed




7. An EM wave travelling in a dielectric medium having dielectric constant 9 is incident at
an angle on the dielectric- air interface. Determine
a) Critical angle
b) f the angle of incidence is 15
0
, calculate the reflection coefficeient for the
perpendicular polarisation.
$oIution:
a)

b)Gven










8. The Brewster angle of incidence in a particular dielectric medium is 60
0
. What is the corresponding angle of transmission and wavelength
at a frequency of 100 MHz.
$oI ution




or

Now