11/28/18

P209

E&M notes for Wednesday, 11/28

1 Multipole expansion

Assume that we are far from the source, so that we can work in the far-field limit; also assume that
the source is small compared to the wavelength.
eikr
Z
0
Afar = J(x0 )d3 x0 e−ikn̂·x
cr
We’re going to expand this as a Taylor series.
The lowest-order term is the electric dipole (done in the previous lecture):
0
eikx̂·x = 1
At next order, we get the magnetic dipole/electric quadrupole terms, which go like
−ik(n̂ · x0 ).
At this order, we have
eikr
Z
Afar = (−ik) J(x0 )(n̂ · x0 )d3 x0
cr
We then use this result (which could be proven if you cared enough):
1  1
(n̂ × x0 )J = (n̂ · x0 )J + (n̂ · J)x0 + (x0 × J) × n̂.
2 2
Note the magnetic moment in the cross product: x0 × J.
Let’s start by just integrating the triple cross product, which gives us the magnetic dipole term:
eikr
Amag = ik(n̂ × m)+ O(r−2 ).
r
Somehow — need to look this up in Jackson — the electric field is
eikr
E = −k 2 (n̂ × m) .
r
Note the k 2 factor out front, which is important. Then
dP
∼ sin2 θ,
dΩ
just like an electric dipole; but the electric field is perpendicular to m, and not parallel to P.
For the electric quadrupole bit, we have to integrate the (n̂ · x0 )J + (n̂ · J)x0 terms. I don’t know why
we can do this, but replace J with x0 (∇ · J) → x0 (kρ)...
... so
Z
kx0i x0j ρd3 x0

contains the quadrupole Qij = x0i x0j ρ.

As we move to higher moments, we get more and more factors of k; the power goes like P ∼ (kd)2n .
In the small-source approximation, kd  1, so we can safely stop working at low order.

1
1.1 (Electric) dipole radiation for a collection of antennae

Very far from the collection of radiating things, we get a superposition of fields:

k 2 ikr−iωt X
Efar ∼ e pj e−ikrj ·n̂
r
j

where p is the dipole moment — really the projection of the dipole moment. We’re summing up a
bunch of plane waves with a slightly different phase, because the radiation is coming from slightly
different places.
The intensity we measure is the square of E, which is what leads to interference, etc.

2 Dielectric ball and plane waves

What happens when plane waves hit a dielectric ball?

The incident wave induces a dipole in the dielectric bole, which leads to dipole radiation being emit-
ted...
Factors of c have been dropped “to protect the innocent”:

k 2 eikr
ESC = [(n̂ × p) × n̂ − n̂ × m]
r
We can drop the second term because we’re in a dielectric — in a conductor, though, we’d get a surface
current and we’d have to keep it. Note that the dipole moment p is proportional to the incident field
(and that it’s really the projected dipole moment pp ).
Define
dσ scattered power
=
dΩ incident power
c
r2 8π ∗ · ESC |2
|ˆ
= c
8π 0∗ · Einc |2
|ˆ

We’re just calculating the Poynting vectors for both fields. The ˆ∗ terms could allow us to pick out
particular polarizations, if we wanted to; otherwise we’d just sum over all polarizations.
We end up with

dσ k4
∝  · pp |2 ∝ k 4 a6
|ˆ
dΩ |Einc |2
because this needs to have dimensions of area, and the only length we have to counteract the k terms
is a.
Claim: starting from the Green’s function, we should be able to understand why this term goes like
k 4 . I do not, but this is apparently important.

2.1 A collection of scatterers

Superposition:
2
dσ X
∝ k4 pj eiδj
dΩ
j

2
where the phase δj is just the same displacement we saw earlier.
If the collection of scatterers is randomly distributed, then everything interacts incoherently, and
dσ
∝ Nscatt. |pscatt. |2
dΩ
∼ k 4 (density of scatt.)

This is Rayleigh scattering. If we have a collection of randomly distributed small dipoles, the scattered
power goes like k 4 , or λ−4 . So as λ gets smaller (bluer), more power is scattered — hence, the sky is
blue (we see the scattered blue light), the winter sum is weaker than the summer sun (light travels
through a longer path length through the atmosphere), you don’t get sunburned at sunrise/sundown,
etc.
Note: one of our fundamental assumptions is that the source size (e.g. size of the scattering dipoles) is
much much smaller than the wavelength. Is this true for the sky? Maybe not. But somehow quantum
mechanics makes this work anyway. I dunno.