Chapter 33

Electromagnetic Waves

Today’s information age is based almost entirely on the physics of

electromagnetic waves. The connection between electric and magnetic fields
to produce light is own of the greatest achievements produced by physics,
and electromagnetic waves are at the core of many fields in science and
engineering.

In this chapter we introduce fundamental concepts and explore the

properties of electromagnetic waves.

1 33-
 Maxwell’s Rainbow
The wavelength/frequency range in which electromagnetic (EM) waves (light)
are visible is only a tiny fraction of the entire electromagnetic spectrum

Fig. 33-2

2 33-
Fig. 33-1
 The Travelling Electromagnetic (EM) Wave, Qualitatively
An LC oscillator causes currents to flow sinusoidally, which in turn produces
oscillating electric and magnetic fields, which then propagate through space as
EM waves

Next slide

Fig. 33-3
Oscillation Frequency:

3 33-
The Travelling Electromagnetic (EM) Wave, Qualitatively

EM fields at P looking back

toward LC oscillator

Fig. 33-4
4 33-
 Mathematical Description of Travelling EM Waves

Electric Field:
Wave Speed:

Magnetic Field: All EM waves travel a c in vacuum

Wavenumber:
EM Wave Simulation
Angular frequency:

Vacuum Permittivity:

Vacuum Permeability:
Fig. 33-5
Amplitude Ratio: Magnitude Ratio: 33-
5
 A Most Curious Wave
• Unlike all the waves discussed in Chs. 16 and 17, EM waves require no
medium through/along which to travel. EM waves can travel through empty
space (vacuum)!
• Speed of light is independent of speed of observer! You could be heading
toward a light beam at the speed of light, but you would still measure c as the
speed of the beam!

6 33-
 The Travelling EM Wave, Quantitatively
Induced Electric Field
Changing magnetic fields produce electric fields, Faraday’s law of induction

Fig. 33-6

7 33-
 The Travelling EM Wave, Quantitatively
Induced Magnetic Field
Changing electric fields produce magnetic fields, Maxwell’s law of induction

Fig. 33-7

8 33-
 Energy Transport and the Poynting Vector

Poynting Vector:

The magnitude of S is related to the rate at which energy is transported by

a wave across a unit area at any instant (inst). The unit for S is (W/m2)

9 33-
 Energy Transport and the Poynting Vector

Instantaneous
energy flow rate:

Note that S is a function of time. The time-averaged value for S, Savg is also
called the intensity I of the wave.

10 33-
 Variation of Intensity with Distance

Consider a point source S that is emitting EM waves isotropically (equally in

all directions) at a rate PS. Assume energy of waves is conserved as they
spread from source.

How does the intesnity

(power/area) change
with distance r?

Fig. 33-8
11 33-
 Radiation Pressure
EM waves have linear momentum as well as energy→light can exert pressure

Total absorption:

Total reflection
Back along path:

12 33-
 Polarization

The polarization of light is describes

how the electric field in the EM wave
oscillates.

Vertically plane-polarized (or linearly

polarized)

Fig. 33-10 33-

13
 Polarized Light

Unpolarized or randomly polarized light has

its instantaneous polarization direction vary
randomly with time

One can produce unpolarized light by the

addition (superposition) of two
perpendicularly polarized waves with
randomly varying amplitudes. If the two
perpendicularly polarized waves have fixed
amplitudes and phases, one can produce
different polarizations such as circularly or
elliptically polarized light.
Fig. 33-11
Polarized Light Simulation 14 33-
 Polarizing Sheet

I0

Fig. 33-12
Only electric field component along polarizing direction of
polarizing sheet is passed (transmitted), the perpendicular
component is blocked (absorbed)

15 33-
 Intensity of Transmitted Polarized Light

Intensity of
transmitted light,
unpolarized
incident light:

Since only the component of the

incident electric field E parallel to the
polarizing axis is transmitted

Fig. 33-13 Intensity of

transmitted light,
polarized
incident light:
For unpolarized light, θ varies randomly in time

16 33-
 Reflection and Refraction
Although light waves spread as they move from a source, often we can
approximate its travel as being a straight line → geometrical optics

What happens when a narrow beam of

light encounters a glass surface?
Law of Reflection
Reflection:

Snell’s Law
Refraction:

Fig. 33-17
17 33-
n is the index of refraction of the material
 Sound Waves

For light going from n1 to n2

• n2 = n1 → θ2 = θ1
• n2 > n1 → θ2<θ1, light bent towards
normal
• n2 < n1 → θ2 > θ1, light bent away from
normal

Fig. 33-18
18 33-
 Chromatic Dispersion
The index of refraction n encountered by light in any medium except vacuum
depends on the wavelength of the light. So if light consisting of different
wavelengths enters a material, the different wavelengths will be refracted
differently → chromatic dispersion

n2blue>n2re
Fig. 33-19 Fig. 33-20 d

Chromatic dispersion can be good (e.g., used to analyze wavelength

composition of light) or bad (e.g., chromatic aberration in19lenses) 33-
 Chromatic Dispersion

Chromatic dispersion can be good (e.g., used to analyze wavelength

composition of light)

prism

Fig. 33-21

or bad (e.g., chromatic aberration in lenses)

lens
20 33-
 Rainbows

Sunlight consists of all visible colors and water is

dispersive, so when sunlight is refracted as it enters
water droplets, is reflected off the back surface, and
again is refracted as it exits the water drops, the range of
angles for the exiting ray will depend on the color of the
ray. Since blue is refracted more strongly than red, only
droplets that are closer the the rainbow center (A) will
refract/reflect blue light to the observer (O). Droplets at
larger angles will still refract/reflect red light to the
observer.

What happens for rays that reflect twice off the back
surfaces of the droplets?

Fig. 33-22
21 33-
 Total Internal Reflection
For light that travels from a medium with a larger index of refraction to a
medium with a smaller medium of refraction n1>n1 → θ2>θ1, as θ1 increases, θ2
will reach 90o (the largest possible angle for refraction) before θ1 does.

n2

Critical Angle:

n1
When θ2> θc no light is
refracted (Snell’s Law does
not have a solution!) so no
Fig. 33-24
light is transmitted → Total
Total internal reflection can be used, for
Internal Reflection
example, to guide/contain light along an
optical fiber 22 33-
 Polarization by Reflection
When the refracted ray is perpendicular to the reflected ray, the electric field
parallel to the page (plane of incidence) in the medium does not produce a
reflected ray since there is no component of that field perpendicular to the
reflected ray (EM waves are transverse).
Applications
1. Perfect window: since parallel polarization is
not reflected, all of it is transmitted
2. Polarizer: only the perpendicular component
is reflected, so one can select only this
component of the incident polarization

Brewster’s Law

Fig. 33-27
In which direction does light reflecting Brewster Angle:
23 33-
off a lake tend to be polarized?