V 3 Plane Waves

As mentioned before even in the

E
absence of sources g
o
j
there can be electromagnetic waves

let us
consider the spatial case

that they depend only on x and

not y or t We need to solve

i
It
o

where be any component

I can
of
4 I É B We can rewrite

this
I E E 311 0
and introduce new variables

t E E
yet
so that t
fly 5 x E y 5
Then
3 1 I E

3 313 a

and the one dimensional wave equation

becomes
for f
21 0
2524
The solution has the
form
f f 5 tf y
ttt
fact E t f
with J and f arbitrary functions

The function J is constant for

of roust This means that

Jf E E
E J.lt
n words at t o is the same
J
as at t o at a distance
f
x c f away from to That is

a wave
travelling along the x axis

in
positive direction with a
velocity c

The other is
function Ja wave
a

travelling in
negative x direction

Let us consider now the EM lase

 a with 4 0 and
using gauge
O B É Jax 2x no or
y

Z dependence Then

0
f I It 377 cont

This would lead to a non zero

instant direction
electric
field in x

É 5 of of which has nothing

to do with the wave and we can

set Ax O to study the wave

Hence we can choose A to be

orthogonal to the direction the

of

plane wave
 Let us consider a wave
going
in positive x direction Then all

quantities are of f f X c
functions
Then É 311 35 and

5 5 1 Elt E x
Ex I
I x É where I Ex is the

vector pointing in the dirention

of
the wave So É and B are

perpendicular to the direction

of
the wave EM waves in vacuum

are transverse The Poynting vector

D É X B Z ÉxCixÉ
 I É n C B 5
E I o

So it is the divertion
pointing in

the propagation of the

of wave

Let us have a look at monochromatic

with cyclic
plane waves a
fixed
w Then everything is
frequency
proportional to a for ios wt ta and
fan

If of easy

We can define the wavelength

I HI and the wave vector

I Ei The vector potential

 can be written as

Refs eithii
As long as we just perform
linear
operations in the
fields
we can deal directly with complex

quantities and take the meal part

in the end For instance
É II in A B Ext it É

Let's have a closer look at

É Re E either ut

We can write É El e
Zia
and

define Eo Be id
5 1612
 É Re 5 explicit i wt a

Furthermore 5 5 ti bi with

5 and I real vectors Since

I bi thi
real If tzibi.io
We can choose the y axis
along 5

and the Z axis along bi Then

Ey b cos wt Kx ta

Ez Iba sin wt Kx ta

Hence
EI EE
and the wave is
elliptically polarized

The vector É rotate in the direction

of opposite to a
right hand screw

rotating along the x axis for

the plus minus

sign above

For b be the wave is circularly

polarized and if b o or be 0

the wave is linearly polarited

We the vector
can
define four
km E K with Kr 0
ty
A direct consequence is the Doppler

The frequency of wave

effect
a

is
shifted by

wi u IE
n E Cosa
where a is the angle in the K

system between the direction of

emission
of the wave and the

direction of motion the source

of
K is moving relative to k with

T
a
velocity
For Ece c

w w at
E cosh
If so in