5.9 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS So far, we have considered the existence of the electric ficld in & homogeneous medium. If the ficld exists in a region consisting of two different media, the conditions that the field ‘must satisfy af the interface separating the media are called boundary conditions, These con- ditions are helpful in determining the field on one side of the boundary ifthe field on the other side is known, Obviously, the conditions will be dictated by the types of material the ‘media are made of. We shall consider the boundary conditions at an interface separating + dieleetie (¢,,) and dielectric (F,:) * conductor and dielectric * conductor and free space To determine the boundary conditions, we need to use Maxwell's equations: fr dl=0 (882) and {D-d8 = (33 Also we need to decompose the electric field intensity E into two orthogonal components; E=B+E, (5.54) where B, and E, are, respectively, the tangential and normal components of E to the inter- face of interest. A similar decomposition can be done for the electric flux density D,5.9 Bounoary CoNpmONS M183 A. Dielectric—Dielectric Boundary Conditions Coasider the E field existing in a region consisting of two different diclectrics character- feed by €) = fn, and @ = 2e,, a8 shown in Figure S.10(a). Ey and Ein media | and respectively, can be decomposed as BE, = By + B,. (5.55a) E, = Ex + Ex (5.556) We apply eq. (5-52) to the closed path abeda of Figure 5.10(a) assuming that the path is very stall with respect to the variation of E. We obtain 0 = £, aw - £24 - an ah aw + Fa + (5.56) were 5; = [| and E, ~ [RAs Ak + 0,09 (5.56) becomes [ere] con ‘Thus the tangential components of E are the same on the two sides of the boundary. In other words. E, undergocs no change on the boundary and it is said to be continuous wero the boundary. Since D = eE = D, + D,. oq. (5.57) can be written as Due _ 2: (5.58) ross the interface. Hence D, is said to be discontinu- that is, D, undergoes some change ac ous across the interface 10 Dielectricdickeetrsc boundary.inilarly, we apply eq. (5.53) to the pillbox (Gaussian surface) of Figure $.10(b), Al lowing Sh —> 0 gives AQ © pyAS = DAS — Dz, 3S Dw where p< 1 the free charge density placed deliberately at the boundary. It should be borne nnd that ey. (5.59) is based on the assumption that D is directed from region 2 to region 1 and eq, (5.59) must be applied accordingly. If po free charges exist al the interface (i€ charges are not dehberately placed there), o, = 0 and eq. (5.59) becomes lp, = Ds (3.60) Thus the normal compooent of D is continuous across the interface; that is, D,, undergoes no change at the boundary. Since D-~ ®E. eq. (5,60) can be written as ek (S61) ~ BE showing that the normal component of Eis discontinuous at the boundary. Equations (5.57) and (5.59), or (5.60) are collectively referred to as boundary conditions: they smust be satisfied by an electric field at the boundary separating two different dielectrics tioned earlier, the boundary conditions are usually applied in finding the elec ld.on one sade of the boundary given the field on the other side_Besides this. we can use the boundary conditions to determine the “refraction” of the electeic fheld across the in- terface. Consider Dy or E, and D, or Ez making angles @, and @, with the normal to the in terface as illustrated in Figure 5.11. Using eq. (5.57), we have F,sin@, = & Ey sin 8, Figure $.11 Refraction of D or E at a dhicloctric-dielectrc houndary