Overview of uniform plane waves

and Maxwells equation

Uniform Plane Wave Solutions to
Maxwell’s Equations

1
Overview of Waves
 A wave is a pattern of values in space that
appear to move as time evolves.
 A wave is a solution to a wave equation.

 Examples of waves include water waves,

sound waves, seismic waves, and voltage
and current waves on transmission lines.

2
Overview of Waves (Cont’d)
 Wave phenomena result from an exchange between
two different forms of energy such that the time rate
of change in one form leads to a spatial change in the
other.
 Waves possess
 no mass

 energy

 momentum

 velocity

3
Time-Domain Maxwell’s
Equations in Differential Form
Kc ANALOGOUS TO J

B
  E  K  D  q
t
D
 H  J  B  0
t
Jc
4
Time-Domain Maxwell’s Equations in
Differential Form for a Simple Medium

D E B  H Jc  E Kc m H

H q
  E   H   E 
t 
E
 H   E  H  0
t

5
Time-Domain Maxwell’s Equations in Differential Form for a
Simple, Source-Free, and Lossless Medium

J  0 q  0  m  0

H
  E   E  0
t
E
 H   H  0
t

6
Time-Domain Maxwell’s Equations in Differential Form for a
Simple, Source-Free, and Lossless Medium

 Obviously, there must be a source for the

field somewhere.
 However, we are looking at the properties
of waves in a region far from the source.

7
Derivation of Wave Equations for Electromagnetic Waves
in a Simple, Source-Free, Lossless Medium
0
    E     E    E2

   H   E 2
     2
t t
0
    H     H    2 H
   E   H 2
    2
t t
8
Wave Equations for Electromagnetic
Waves in a Simple, Source-Free, Lossless
Medium
 The wave equations
 E2
are not independent.
 E   2  0
2

t  Usually we solve the

electric field wave
 H
2
equation and
 H   2  0
2

t determine H from E
using Faraday’s law.

9
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain
 A uniform plane wave is an electromagnetic wave in
which the electric and magnetic fields and the direction
of propagation are mutually orthogonal, and their
amplitudes and phases are constant over planes
perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
 Let us examine a possible plane wave solution given by

E  aˆ x E x  z , t 
10
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions

in the Time Domain (Cont’d)
The wave equation for this field simplifies to

 The general solution to this wave equation is

 Ex
2
 Ex
2
  0
z 2
t 2

E x  z , t   p1  z  v p t   p2  z  v p t 

11
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain (Cont’d)
 The functions p1(z-vpt) and p2 (z+vpt)
represent uniform waves propagating in the
+z and -z directions respectively.
 Once the electric field has been determined
from the wave equation, the magnetic field
must follow from Maxwell’s equations.

12
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain (Cont’d)
 The velocity of propagation is determined solely by the medium:

 The functions p1 and p2 are determined by the source and the other boundary conditions.

1
vp 


13
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain (Cont’d)
 Here we must have

H  aˆ y H y  z , t 
where

H y  z , t    p1  z  v p t   p2  z  v p t 
1


14
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain (Cont’d)
  is the intrinsic impedance of the medium given by



 Like the velocity of propagation, the intrinsic
impedance is independent of the source and is
determined only by the properties of the medium.

15
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions
in the Time Domain (Cont’d)
 In free space (vacuum):

v p  c  3  10 m/s
8

  120  377

16
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain (Cont’d)
 Strictly speaking, uniform plane waves can be
produced only by sources of infinite extent.
 However, point sources create spherical
waves. Locally, a spherical wave looks like a
plane wave.
 Thus, an understanding of plane waves is very
important in the study of electromagnetics.

17
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions
in the Time Domain (Cont’d)
 The electric and magnetic fields are given
by
E x  z , t   C1 cos t  z   C2 cos t  z 
1
H y  z , t    C1 cos t  z   C2 cos t  z 


18
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in the
Time Domain (Cont’d)
 The argument of the cosine function is
the called the instantaneous phase of the
field:

  z , t   t  z

19
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain (Cont’d)
 The speed with which a constant value of
instantaneous phase travels is called the phase
velocity. For a lossless medium, it is equal to and
denoted by the same symbol as the velocity of
propagation.

t   0
t   z   0  z 

dz  1
vp   
dt  
20
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain (Cont’d)
 The distance along the direction of
propagation over which the instantaneous
phase changes by 2 radians for a fixed
value of time is the wavelength.

2
  2   


21
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in the
Time Domain (Cont’d)
 The Function vs. position at a fixed time

wavelength is 1

0.8

also the 0.6

0.4

distance 0.2

between every
0

-0.2

other zero -0.4

-0.6

crossing of the -0.8

-1

sinusoid. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

22
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain (Cont’d)
 Relationship between wavelength and
frequency in free space:
c

f
 Relationship between wavelength and
frequency in a material medium:
vp

f
23
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain (Cont’d)
  is the phase constant and is given by


    
vp
rad/m

24
Uniform Plane Wave Solutions in
the Time Domain (Cont’d)
 In free space (vacuum):

 2
    0 0   k 0 
c 0

free space wavenumber

(rad/m)
25
Time-Harmonic Analysis
 Sinusoidal steady-state (or time-harmonic)
analysis is very useful in electrical engineering
because an arbitrary waveform can be represented
by a superposition of sinusoids of different
frequencies using Fourier analysis.
 If the waveform is periodic, it can be represented
using a Fourier series.
 If the waveform is not periodic, it can be
represented using a Fourier transform.

26
Helmholtz Equations for Electromagnetic Waves
in a Simple, Source-Free, Possibly Lossy Medium

 The Helmholtz
equations are not
 E  E  0
2 2
independent.
 Usually we solve the
electric field equation
 H  H  0
2 2
and determine H from
E using Faraday’s law.

27
Helmholtz equation
 Assuming a plane wave solution of the form

E  aˆ x E x  z 
 The Helmholtz equation simplifies to

2
d Ex
2
  Ex  0
2

dz

28
General solution in frequency
domain
 The general solution to this wave equation is

E x  z   C1e  z
 C2 e  z

 z  j z z j z
 C1e e  C2 e e

Ex  z 

Ex  z 

• wave traveling in
• wave traveling in
the +z-direction the -z-direction

29
From frequency to time
 Converting the phasor representation of E
back into the time domain, we have

E x z , t  Re E x z e 
     j t

 C1e cos t  z   C2 e cos t  z 

 z z

• We have assumed that C1 and C2 are real.

30
Relation between E and H in
frequency domain
 Evaluating H we have

1

H y  z   C1e  C2 e

 z z

1

 Ex  z   Ex  z 

 


31
Intinsic impedence as a complex
quantity
 We note that the intrinsic impedance  is
a complex number for lossy media.

j
 e

32
Caution!!
 We note that in a lossy medium, the
electric field and the magnetic field are
no longer in phase.
 The magnetic field lags the electric field
by an angle of .

33
Why does an EM wave
propagate?

34
TEM
 Note that we have  Uniform plane
E  H  aˆ z waves are a type of
 These form a right- transverse
handed coordinate electromagnetic
system (TEM) wave.
âE

â z âH
35
Relation between phasors
 Relationships between the phasor
representations of electric and magnetic
fields in uniform plane waves: unit vector in
direction of
1
H  aˆ p  E propagation


E   aˆ p  H

36
factors
 Properties of the wave determined by the
source:
 amplitude

 phase

 frequency

37
Dispersion
 For a signal (such as a pulse) comprising a band of frequencies, different frequency components propagate with
different velocities causing distortion of the signal. This phenomenon is called dispersion.
dispersion.

25

20
input signal
15

10

5
output signal
0

-5
0 100 200 300 400 500 600

38
Plane Wave Propagation in Lossy
Media
 Assume a wave propagating in the +z-
direction:
Ex  z, t   Ex 0 e cos t  z 
  z

 We consider two special cases:

 Low-loss dielectric.

 Good (but not perfect) conductor.

39
Plane Waves in a Low-Loss
Dielectric
 A lossy dielectric exhibits loss due to
molecular forces that the electric field has
to overcome in polarizing the material.
 We shall assume that

r 
    
     j    1  j  0
  
  1  j tan     r  0 1  j tan  
40
Plane Waves in a Low-Loss
Dielectric (Cont’d)
 Assume that the material is a low-loss
dielectric, i.e, the loss tangent of the
material is small:

 
tan    1


41
Plane Waves in a Low-Loss
Dielectric (Cont’d)
 The intrinsic impedance is given by

 
  1  j tan   1 / 2

 
tan 
0  tan    0 j
 1  j   e 2
r  2  r

1  x  1 / 2
 1
x 1  x   e x
2 42
Plane Waves in a Low-Loss
Dielectric (Cont’d)
 In most low-loss dielectrics, r is more or
less independent of frequency. Hence,
dispersion can usually be neglected.
 The approximate expression for  is used
to accurately compute the loss per unit
length.

43
Plane Waves in a Good Conductor
 In a perfect conductor, the
electromagnetic field must vanish.
 In a good conductor, the electromagnetic
field experiences significant attenuation
as it propagates.
 The properties of a good conductor are
determined primarily by its conductivity.

44
Plane Waves in a Good
Conductor (Cont’d)
 The phase velocity is given by

 2
vp    c
 

45
Plane Waves in a Good Conductor
(Cont’d)
 The skin depth of material is the depth to
which a uniform plane wave can
penetrate before it is attenuated by a
factor of 1/e.
 We have
 1
e 1  


46
Plane Waves in a Good Conductor
(Cont’d)
 For a good conductor, we have

1 2
 
 
THIS IS THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND USE OF WAVEGUIDES RATHER
THAN TRANSMISSION LINES!!!!

47
THANK YOU!!

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