B

Classical electric dipole radiation

In Chapter 1 a classical model was used to describe the scattering of X-rays by electrons. The
equation relating the strength of the radiated to incident X-ray electric fields (Eq. 1.5) was stated without
proof. Here the derivation of this equation is outlined more fully.
We imagine that an electromagnetic plane wave with an electric field Ein is incident on a charge
distribution, which oscillates in response to this driving field, and hence acts as a source of radiation.
The problem then is to evaluate the radiated electric field at some observation point X, as shown in Fig.
B.1(a). This is simplified considerably if it is assumed that r is much greater than the spatial extent of
the charge distribution, and also if r is much greater than the wavelength of the radiation λ. The first of
these is the dipole approximation, while the second assures that we can interpret the electromagnetic
effects at X as radiation. Here it is further assumed that the electrons forming the charge distribution
are free.
The electric and magnetic fields at X can be derived from the scalar potential Φ and the vector
potential A:
∂A
E = −∇Φ −
∂t
and
B=∇×A (B.1)
The task of evaluating the fields at X is further simplified if it is recalled that electromagnetic waves
are transverse, with the fields being perpendicular to the propagation direction n, as shown in Fig.
B.1(b). We then have that n is colinear to E × B, and by solving the wave equation it can be shown that
|E| = c|B|. It is therefore sufficient to derive B from A (Eq. (B.1)), and then E follows immediately.
The vector potential is given by
J(r′ , t − |r − r′ |/c) ′
Z
1
A(r, t) = dr
4πǫ0 c2 V |r − r′ |

where J(r′ , t) is the current density of the source. As the fields propagate at a finite velocity, the fields
experienced at the observation point X at time t depend on the position of the electron at an earlier time
t − |r − r′ |/c. For this reason A given by the above is known as the retarded vector potential.

Elements of Modern X-ray Physics, Second Edition. Jens Als-Nielsen and Des McMorrow
© 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
350 Classical electric dipole radiation

The dipole approximation allows us to ignore r′ in comparison with r, so that

Z
1
A(r, t) ≈ J(r′ , t − r/c) dr′
4πǫ0 c2 r V
To proceed it is noted that the current density is equal to the product of the charge density ρ and the
velocity v,
J = ρv.
For a distribution of discrete charges qi the integral is replaced by a sum so that
Z Z X d X ′
′
J dr = ρv dr′ = qi vi = ′ qr
V V i
dt i i i

The last term is recognizable as the time derivative of the electric dipole moment which is written as ṗ.
We now let the incident beam be linearly polarized along the z axis, so that the dipole moment and
hence the vector potential will have a component along this direction only (Fig. B.1(b)). Thus for a
single dipole we have !
1
Az = ṗ(t′ )
4πǫ0 c2 r
and A x = Ay = 0. From Eq. (B.1) the components of the B field follow as
∂Az ∂Az
Bx = ; By = − ; Bz = 0 (B.2)
∂y ∂x
For the x component of the B field we evaluate the partial derivative of Az with respect to y as
∂Az
! !
1 ∂ ṗ(t′ )
=
∂y 4πǫ0 c2 ∂y r
!" #
1 1 ∂ṗ(t′ ) ṗ(t′ ) ∂r
= − 2
4πǫ0 c2 r ∂y r ∂y
Since we are interested in the far-field limit of B, we can neglect the second term in the above, while
the partial derivative of the first term with respect to y can be evaluated by noting that
∂ ∂ ∂t′
= ′
∂y ∂t ∂y
!
∂ ∂
q
1 2 2 2
= ′ t− x +y +z
∂t ∂y c
1 y ∂
=−
c r ∂t′
Hence the x component of the B field in the far field limit is
! y
1 1 ′
Bx ≈ − p̈(t )
4πǫ0 c2 cr r
and the y component follows by interchanging x and y, and allowing for the minus sign in Eq. (B.2).
Recalling that p̈(t′ ) is implicitly along the z axis we can generalize to any direction of p̈(t′ ) by writing
!
1 1
B≈ p̈(t′ ) × r̂
4πǫ0 c2 cr
 351

Fig. B.1 (a) The coordinate system used to calculate the electromagnetic field radiated from a charge distribution when placed
in an incident plane wave. (b) An electromagnetic plane wave polarized with its electric field along the z axis forces an electric
dipole at the origin to oscillate. In the far-field limit the field radiated from the dipole is approximately a plane wave with the E
and B fields perpendicular to the propagation direction as indicated in the figure.
352 Classical electric dipole radiation

where r̂ is the unit vector (x/r, y/r, z/r). The numerical value of the vector cross product is p̈ cos ψ
where ψ is defined in Fig. B.1(b). The direction of the electric field is perpendicular to both r̂ and B in
such a way that the cross product of E × B is along r̂. In particular we note that for ψ = 0 the E field
has the opposite direction of p̈. Its magnitude is given by |E| = c|B| so that
!
1 1 ′
E(t) = − 2
p̈(t ) cos ψ (B.3)
4πǫ0 c r

The next step is to calculate the magnitude of p̈ in terms of the incident driving field Ein =
E0 e−i ω(t−r/c) . By definition we have

Force q Ein q2
p̈ = qz̈ = q =q = E0 e−i ω(t−r/c)
mass m m
which when inserted into Eq. (B.3) with q = −e, and remembering that ω/c = k, leads to
! i kr !
e2 e
E(t) = − Ein (t) cos ψ
4πǫ0 mc2 r

The prefactor is the Thomson scattering length r0 , so that the ratio of the radiated to incident electric
fields is given by !
E(t) ei kr
= −r0 cos ψ (B.4)
Ein (t) r
The factor cos ψ in Eq. (B.3) is the origin of the polarization factor for X-ray scattering, as p̈(t′ ) cos ψ
may be thought of as the apparent acceleration as seen by the observer. This is clear if we return to the
case when Ein is along the z axis. If ψ=0 the maximum acceleration is observed, whereas for ψ = 90◦
the apparent acceleration is zero. The polarization factor is discussed further in Chapter 1.
We note that the minus sign means that there is a phase shift of π between the incident and scattered
fields, and it follows that the index of refraction is necessarily less than unity (see Chapter 3). This
result holds in the X-ray region, where most if not all of the atomic electrons may be treated as though
they are essentially free. In the visible part of the spectrum, however, we have to allow for the fact
that the electrons are bound. This produces resonances in the frequency dependence of the index of
refraction, and on the low frequency side of the resonances, corresponding to the visible part of the
spectrum, the index of refraction is greater than one.
One way to characterize the efficiency with which an electron scatters the incident radiation is to
calculate the total scattering cross-section. The power per unit area is proportional to |E|2 , and by
definition the differential cross-section is the power scattered into the solid angle dΩ, normalized by
the incident flux (see Appendix A). From Eq. (B.4) it follows that the differential cross-section is

!
dσ
= r02 cos2 ψ
dΩ

where the factor of r in the denominator of (B.4) cancels on taking the square with a factor of r2 that
arises in converting from surface area to solid angle. The total cross-section for Thomson scattering is
 353

found by integration over the polar angles ϕ and θ:

Z Z !
8π 2
σT = r02
cos ψ sin θdθdϕ = r0
2 2
sin θ sin θdθdϕ =
2
r
3 0
= 0.665 × 10−24 cm2
= 0.665 barn (B.5)

The classical cross-section for the scattering of an electromagnetic wave by a free electron is therefore
a constant, independent of energy.

Further reading
Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory, J.R. Reitz, F.J. Milford, and R.E. Christy (Addison-
Wesley Publishing Company, 1992)
Classical Electromagnetic Radiation, M.A. Heald and J.B. Marion (Saunders College Publishing,
1995)