The Propagation of Light

The derivation of the speed of light c starts from Maxwell’s Equations in phasor form:

V
E 
0
  E   j 0 H
H  0
  H  J  j 0 E

When light propagates in a vacuum, the current density J  0 since free space (vacuum
or air) is a non-conductor. Therefore, Maxwell’s 4th equation becomes

  H  j 0 E (1)

Then, we use the vector identity     A    A    2 A , and then substitute

Maxwell’s 1st equation to solve for the Laplacian of E :

    E    E    2 E
 
    E   V    2 E
 0 
    E  0    2 E
    E   2 E
 2 E      E

Then, we substitute Maxwell’s 2nd equation to express  2 E in terms of   H :

 2 E     j 0 H 
 2 E  j 0   H
Substitute (1):
 2 E  j 0  j 0 E 
 2 E   2  0  0 E

Recall that the Laplacian in Cartesian coordinates is the sum of the second derivatives
with respect to each coordinate, but the second derivatives in the x- and y-axes are zero
since the motion is only in the z-axis:
  2 E  2 E  2E
2
 2  2   2  0 0 E
x y z
 2E
00 2
  2  0 0 E
z
d 2E
2
  2  0 0E  0
dz

The result is an ordinary differential equation. We solve its auxiliary equation by:
m 2   2  0 0  0
m   j  0  0

Therefore, the solution is

 jz  0  0
E x  Ae
Where we put the subscript x since there is only an x-component1.
When z  0 , E x  E 0, x , therefore

E x  E 0 , x e  jz  0 0

Expressing the phasor in sinusoid form:


E x  E 0, x cos  t  z  0 0 
But the argument of the cosine function must always be a constant for uniform plane
wave motion.

 t  z  0 0  c 
Then, we do implicit differentiation to get differentials:

 
d  t  z  0 0  d c 
 dt  dz  0 0  0 
dt  dz 0 0  0
dz 1

dt  0 0

1
This is for the electric filed component. The magnetic field component is along the y-axis that can be
0   z 
solved from Maxwell’s 2nd Equation as H y  E 0 , x cos   t   .
0   c 
 dz
But the speed of light c  since the motion is only along the z-axis, finally
dt
1
c
 0 0