Lecture-9 on 23/01/2015

By: Rajendra S. Dhaka

(rsdhaka@physics.iitd.ac.in)

PYL100 course:
Electromagnetic Waves and
Quantum Mechanics
Ch.9: Electromagnetic (EM) waves in vacuum
Sinusoidal Waves: The most familiar waveform..
Polarization and polarized wave
Superposition of two waves (from Optics by AG)
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Electromagnetic (EM) waves?

Faradays law told us that time-varying
magnetic fields generate electric fields
Maxwell found that time-varying electric fields
generate magnetic fields
If we take both together, then
electric field magnetic field electric field
with this we can have disturbances in the electric
and magnetic fields that propagate across space
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
2
Note: No medium is required, E and B can exist in a vacuum

Ch.9: Electromagnetic (EM) waves in Vacuum

EM wave: time-varying electric and magnetic
field propagating through space

Lets derive the wave

equation for E & B
from the curl
3
equations: next slide..

By comparing, we can conclude that Wave Equation

Maxwells equation imply that empty
space supports the propagation of
EM waves, traveling at a speed
4

 And, there would be no

electromagnetic theory of light
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What is a wave?
Disturbance of a continuous medium that
propagate with a certain velocity.
In the presence of absorption, wave
diminishes in size as it moves.
If the medium is dispersive, different
frequencies travel at the different speeds.
In 2D or 3D, as the wave spreads out, its
amplitude will decrease..
Standing waves do not propagate at all.

Sinusoidal Waves: The most familiar waveform..

f ( z, t ) = A cos[k ( z vt ) + ]

k=

= wave number

A - Maximum amplitude or displacement of the wave

- Phase constant (0 2)
Central maximum when phase is zero: k ( z vt ) + = 0
k is the wave number, related to the wavelength.

As time passes, the entire wave train proceeds to the

right, at speed v. At any fixed point z, the string vibrates
up and down, undergoing one full cycle in a period:
2
T=
kv

Frequency (no. of oscillations/time) is:

A more convenient unit is angular frequency
Now, we can write the sinusoidal
wave in terms of , as following:

f ( z, t ) = A cos(kz t + )
If the wave is travelling to left then we can write as:

f ( z, t ) = A cos(kz + t )

Complex Notation
Exponentials are much easier to manipulate than
sines and cosines.
Eulers formula:

e = cos + i sin

The wave equation

can be written as

" i(kzt+ ) %
f z,t = Re $ Ae
'&
#

( )

()

Re represents the real part of the complex number

Introducing a complex wave function:

~

f ( z, t ) = A e

~ i ( kz t )
e = Ae

i ( kz t ) i

~
A = Aei complex amplitude includes phase constant also
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Actual wave function is: f (z,t) = Re[ f! (z,t)]

Example 9.1 of Griffiths

Polarized Waves
Displacement from equilibrium along the direction
of propagation:
Longitudinal Waves
Displacement from equilibrium perpendicular to
the direction of propagation:
Transverse Waves
can be polarized perpendicular to any given line
of propagation,
transverse waves occur in two independent
states of polarization
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Vertical polarization

Polarization

f!v (z, t) = A! ei(k1zt ) x

Horizontal polarization

Plane of vibra-on

~
~ i ( k1z t )
f h ( z, t ) = A e
y

Or along any other direction in the xy plane

f! (z, t) = A! ei(k1zt )n

Plane of vibration is along n

where,

n = cos x + sin y

Since the waves are transverse, n is perpendicular to the

direction of propagation and hence n. z = 0
Any polarized wave can be superposition of two waves- horizontally and
vertically polarized:

~
~
~
i ( k z t )
i ( k z t )
f ( z, t ) = A cose
x + A sin e 12 y

Polarization of Light
un-polarized
plane or Linear (horizontal & vertical)
polarization
Circular polarization (left and right)
Elliptical polarization
Any polarization can be decomposed into two
linearly (plane) polarized states that are orthogonal
to each other..
A very nice animation can be seen at following link:
http://www.enzim.hu/~szia/cddemo/edemo2.htm
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OPTICS by Ajoy Ghatak 5th Edition

22.4 SUPERPOSITION OF TWO DISTURBANCES

Disturbance: Displacement for String waves

Electric vector for Light/ electromagnetic waves

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Consider the superposition of two linearly polarized waves

(both propagating along the z axis) but with their vectors
oscillating along two mutually perpendicular directions.

where a and a represent the amplitudes of the

waves,
,
are phase constants.
1

Since, only phase difference is important we

can put = 0 &
=

Important note:
Polarized waves String waves displacement
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Light/electromagnetic waves electric vector

Superposition of these two waves can result into linear,

circular or elliptically polarized waves, depending on the
phase difference and the amplitudes and .
The resultant electric field,
To find the state of polarization of the resultant field, we
consider the time variation of the resultant electric field only,
i.e., assume z = 0. The x & y components of the resultant:

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One can solve these, by using trigonometric identities

for cos (A-B), solving for cos wt & sin wt in terms of
Ex & Ey, and using
, we obtain
an expression that describes an ellipse:

This is called the Polarization Ellipse.

Depending on the values of

,
and , the polarization
ellipse may be an ellipse,
a circle or a straight line.

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Linear Polarization:
When

, the above equations simplify to

We get,
where the upper and lower signs correspond to
n even and n odd, respecAvely.

In Ex-Ey plane, it represents a straight line.

= 0 =

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Resultant is Linear Polarization:

The two vibrations are either in phase (n = 0, 2,
4, . . .) or out of phase (n = 1, 3, 5, . . .). The
superposition is again a linearly polarized wave.

Some examples:

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Circular Polarization:

When

and

We get,

independent of t
We find that the tip of the electric vector
rotates on the circumference of a circle
(of radius a1) in the counter-clockwise
direction (for propagation out-of paper).
Such a wave is known as a right
circularly polarized [RCP] wave.

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Circular Polarization:

When

and

We get,

We find that the tip of the electric

vector rotates on the circumference
of a circle (of radius a1) in the
clockwise direction (for
propagation out-of paper).
Such a wave is known as a left circularly polarized
[LCP] wave.
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IEEE convention: Curl the fingers of your left and right

hands into a fist and point both thumbs towards the direction
of propagation. If the fingers of your right (left) hand are
curling in the direction of rotation of the electric field, then the
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polarization is right (left) polarized.

Elliptical Polarization:

When

and

We get, the resultant electric vector rotates on the

circumference of an ellipse.
This ellipse will degenerate into a straight line or a circle
when becomes an even or an odd multiple of /2.

In general, when
one obtains an
elliptically polarized wave which degenerates
into a straight line for
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States of polarization
for various values of q
corresponding to a1 =
a2. For example, (c) and
(g) correspond to right
circularly and left
circularly polarized
light respectively;
similarly, (b) and (d)
correspond to right
elliptically polarized
(REP) light and (f) and
(h) correspond to left
elliptically polarized
(LEP) light. The
propagation is out of
the page.
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Summary: Superposition resulting in Linear,

Circular and Elliptical Polarizations

See the projection (of the tip of the E-vector) on the

plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation!
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How to Change the state of polarization?

A quarter-wave plate is used to convert linear

polarization to circular polarization and vice-versa
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