Lecture 16: Group and Phase Velocity Up to now we have just talked about the speed (or velocity)

v of a wave. Actuall y there are two velocities: the Group Velocity vg and the Phase Velocity vp. They are given by t he memorable formul: vp = ? k vg = d? dk 1. Phase velocity A single (in?nite) wave is described by the expression cos(?t - kx) or sin[ 2p ? (x - vt)] or equivalent. The pattern travels with a velocity (actually a speed) vp = ? T = f? = ?/k vp is what matters with interference. The refractive index n is de?ned as c/v an d this means c/vp 2. Group velocity An in?nite wave is unrealistic. A real wave has to have beginning and end. The overall shape is called the envelope. Various shapes are possible - abrupt or gentle. vg = d? dk is the velocity of the envelope. 3. Illustration Consider two waves almost in step. They have ?1, k1 and ?2, k2 (and ?1, ?2...) Write the means and di?erences ? = ?1+?2 2 , k = k1+k2 2 ?? = ?1-?2 2 , ?k = k1-k2 2 the original quantities can be expressed in terms of these ?1 = ? + ??, ?2 = ? - ?? etc Adding the two waves gives a total wave e i(?1t-k1x) + e i(?2t-k2x) This can be written e i(?t+??t-kx-?kx) + e i(?t-??t-kx+?kx) Take out a common factor: e i(?t-kx)

e i(??t-?kx) + e i(-??t+?kx) Remembering cos? = e i? +e -i? 2 this is 2cos(??t - ?kx)e i(?t-kx) The ?rst term is clearly the envelope. It has small wavenumber and frequency and so a long wavelength and period. It travels with velocity vg = ??/?k. This generalises: vg = d? dk 4. Finding vg Often vp is known from measurements or from basic principles. Take the expressio n for vp and write ?/k for vp in it. Turn all the ? and f etc terms into ? and k. Then di?erentiate with respect to k. This gives an expression involving d? dk from which vg can be extracted. As a trivial example, suppose vp is constant (i.e. independent of wavelength) wi th value c. Then ? = ck and d?/dk = c. Group and phase velocity are the same in this case. 5. Example: Refractive Index The velocity of light in a medium tends to depend on the wavelength. (Hence rain bows, prisms, etc.). This is called dispersion. See the previous lecture for details. People normally quote n as a function of ? rather than ? as a function of k. Thi s contains the same information, we need to manipulate it: what follows is mere algebra: dn d? = dn dk dk d? Take these two di?erentials separately. First n = c vp = ck ? so dn dk = c ? ck ?2 d? dk Lecture 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Group and Phase Velocity and secondly k = 2p ? so dk d? = 2p ?2 = k ? Now put these together and get dn d? = -k ? ( c ? - ck ?2 vg) dn d? = - kc ?? + ck 2 ?2? vg = - c vp? + c v 2 p? vg Rearrange to get an expression for vg vg = v 2 p? c ( c vp? + dn d? ) vg = vp + vp? n dn d? = vp(1 + ? n dn d? ) . This can also be written: vg = vp(1 k n dn dk ) = vp - ? dvp

d? = c n+?(dn/d?) . Of all these equally-valid alternatives, only vg = d? dk is memorable. Note: if n is falling with ?, vg < vp. This is called normal dispersion. If n is rising, vg > vp and this is called anomalous dispersion 6. Example Suppose some glass has a slightly di?erent refractive index for red light and bl ue light: n = 1.51 at 400 nm, n = 1.49 at 600 nm. This is a fall of dn = 0.02 in d? = 200 nm. The mean ? is 500 nm and the mean n is 1.5. vp = 2 10 8 m/s vg = 2 10 8 (1 - (500/1.5)(.02/200)) = 2 10 8 (1 - .0333) = 1.93 10 8 m/s 7. Refractive index of X rays We saw in the last lecture that at the highest frequencies(=shortest wavelengths , hence X rays) one can write n = p 1 - B/?2 where B is a positive number containing N and all the proportionality c onstants. This n is less than 1 so vp > c (!) Putting that worry on one side, let s ?nd the group velocity. Start from n = c vp = ck ? = q 1 B ?2 Squaring: c 2 k 2 ?2 = 1 - B ?2 Multiplying by ? 2 : c 2 k 2 = ? 2 - B Then di?erentiate wrt k: 2c 2 k = 2? d? dk

This gives vg = c 2 /vp so vg < c and relativity is OK, as information (causal signals) travels with vg not vp. In this case we have vgvp = c 2 . The product of the group and phase velocities is equal to c 2 . There are many cases where this turns out to be true, but it is not universal and there ar e some where it isn t. 8. A more general picture for deriving vg = d? dk The earlier (standard) example just considered two waves. If you re happy with tha t, ?ne. For a more general approach we need to bring in an extended concept of Fourier Series. A periodic function can be expressed as sum of sine and cosine terms f(?) = P k aksin(k?) + bkcos(k?) ak = 1 p R p -p f(?)sin(k?)d? bk = 1 (2)p R p -p f(?)cos(k?)d? This can be extended to non-periodic functions f(x) = R 8 -8 F(k)e ikx dk where F(k) = 1 2p R 8 -8 f(x)e -ikx dx An in?nite sine wave has a well-de?ned wavelength and thus a well-de?ned k. F(k) is a delta function. If F(k) is broad, the wave is made up of lots of sine waves of di?erent waveleng ths and has a short wavepacket (as the contributions all cancel away from the peak). Suppose we have a long wave packet f(x). That means that there is a small spread in k. The function F(k) will have a sharp peak about some central value k0 At some initial time t = 0 the wave can be written f(x, 0) = R 8 -8 F(k)e ikx dk

After time t the wave has evolved to f(x, t) = R 8 -8 F(k)e i(kx-?(k)t) dk where ?(k) explicitly shows that di?erent wavelength components have di?erent fr equencies. Let ?(k) = ?0 + d? dk (k - k0). This is the Taylor expansion to 1st order, and we re using the fact that the spread in k is small. Then f(x, t) = R F(k)e i(k0x+kx-k0x-?0t-(k-ko) d? dk t) dk f(x, t) = e i(k0x-?0t) R F(k)e i(k-k0)(x-d? dk t) dk The ?rst part is the pure sine wave. The second part (the integral) describes th e envelope. It looks messy, but all the x and t dependence is in the x d? dk t. So the envelope progresses with velocity d? dk = vg