ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS AND

WAVES

LECTURE NOTES

B.TECH
(II YEAR – II SEM)
(2020-21)

Prepared by:
Dr. K.Mallikarjuna Lingam, Associate Professor
Mrs.N.Saritha, Assistant Professor
M.Sreedhar Reddy,Associate Professor

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

MALLA REDDY COLLEGE

OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
(Autonomous Institution – UGC, Govt. of India)
Recognized under 2(f) and 12 (B) of UGC ACT 1956
(Affiliated to JNTUH, Hyderabad, Approved by AICTE - Accredited by NBA & NAAC – ‘A’ Grade - ISO 9001:2015 Certified)
Maisammaguda, Dhulapally (Post Via. Kompally), Secunderabad – 500100, Telangana State, India
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

MALLA REDDY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

II Year B.Tech. ECE-II Sem L T/P/D C
4 1/ - /- 4
(R18A0406) ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS & WAVES
OBJECTIVES
The course objectives are:
1. To introduce the student to the coordinate system and its implementation to
electromagnetics.
2. To elaborate the concept of electromagnetic waves and their practical applications.
3. To study the propagation, reflection, and refraction of plane waves in different media.

UNIT - I:
Vector Analysis & Co-ordinate system: Vector analysis- Representation, operations-Dot
product and cross product, Basics of coordinate system- rectangular, cylindrical and spherical
co-ordinate systems.
Electrostatics-I: Coulomb’s Law, Electric Field Intensity - Fields due to Different Charge
Distributions, Electric Flux Density; Illustrative Problems.

UNIT - II:
Electrostatics-II:
Gauss Law and Applications, Electric Potential, Relations Between E and V, Maxwell's Equations
for Electrostatic Fields, Dielectric Constant, Isotropic and Homogeneous Dielectrics, Continuity
Equation, Relaxation Time, Poisson's and Laplace's Equations, Boundary conditions-conductor-
Dielectric and Dielectric-Dielectric; Illustrative Problems.

UNIT - III:
Magnetostatics: Biot - Savart's Law , Ampere's Circuital Law and Applications, Magnetic Flux
Density, Maxwell's Equations for Magnetostatic Fields, Magnetic Scalar and Vector Potentials,
Ampere’s Force law , Faraday's Law, Displacement Current Density, Maxwell's Equations for
time varying fields, Illustrative Problems.

UNIT - IV:
EM Wave Characteristics-I : Wave Equations for Conducting and Perfect Dielectric Media,
Uniform Plane Waves - Definition, Relation Between E & H, Wave Propagation in Lossless and
Conducting Media, Wave Propagation in Good Conductors and Good Dielectrics, Illustrative
Problems.

UNIT - V:
EM Wave Characteristics – II: Reflection and Refraction of Plane Waves – Normal incidence for
both perfect Conductors and perfect Dielectrics, Brewster Angle, Critical Angle and Total
Internal Reflection, Surface Impedance, Poynting Vector and Poynting Theorem – Applications,
Illustrative Problems.

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TEXT BOOKS:
1. Elements of Electromagnetics - Matthew N. O. Sadiku, 4th., Oxford Univ. Press.
2. Electromagnetic Waves and Radiating Systems - E.C. Jordan and K. G. Balmain, 2nd Ed.,
2000, PHI.
3. Engineering Electromagnetic - William H. Hay Jr. and John A. Buck, 7thEd., 2006, TMH

REFERENCES BOOKS:
1. Engineering Electromagnetics - Nathan Ida, 2ndEd., 2005, Springer (India) Pvt. Ltd., New
Delhi.
2. Electromagnetic Waves and Transmission Lines-Y Mallikarjuna Reddy, University Press.
3. Electromagnetic Fields Theory and Transmission Lines - G. Dashibhushana Rao, Wiley
India, 2013.

COURSE OUTCOMES:

Upon the successful completion of the course, students will be able to;
1. Study time varying Maxwell equations and their applications in electromagnetic
problems
2. Determine the relationship between time varying electric and magnetic field and
electromotive force
3. Use Maxwell equation to describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves
4. Demonstrate the reflection and refraction of waves at boundaries

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UNIT – I
ELECTROSTATICS

Contents
Vector Analysis & Co-ordinate system
 Vector analysis
 Representation
 Operations-Dot product and cross product

 Basics of coordinate system

 Rectangular coordinate system
 Cylindrical coordinate system
 Spherical coordinate system
Electrostatics-I:
 Coulomb’s Law
 Electric Field Intensity
 Fields due to Different Charge Distributions
 Electric Flux Density
 Problems.

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Vector Analysis

Introduction:
Vector Algebra is a part of algebra that deals with the theory of vectors and vector spaces.
Most of the physical quantities are either scalar or vector quantities.

Scalar Quantity:

Scalar is a number that defines magnitude. Hence a scalar quantity is defined as a

quantity that has magnitude only. A scalar quantity does not point to any direction i.e. a
scalar quantity has no directional component.
For example when we say, the temperature of the room is 30o C, we don‘t specify the direction.
Hence examples of scalar quantities are mass, temperature, volume, speed etc.
A scalar quantity is represented simply by a letter – A, B, T, V, S.

Vector Quantity:

A Vector has both a magnitude and a direction. Hence a vector quantity is a

quantity that has both magnitude and direction.

Examples of vector quantities are force, displacement, velocity, etc.

A vector quantity is represented by a letter with an arrow over it or a bold letter.

Unit Vectors:

When a simple vector is divided by its own magnitude, a new vector is created known as
the unit vector. A unit vector has a magnitude of one. Hence the name - unit vector.
A unit vector is always used to describe the direction of respective vector.

Hence any vector can be written as the product of its magnitude and its unit vector. Unit Vectors
along the co-ordinate directions are referred to as the base vectors. For example unit vectors
along X, Y and Z directions are ax, ay and az respectively.

Position Vector / Radius Vector (̅𝑂̅𝑃̅ ):

A Position Vector / Radius vector define the position of a point(P) in space relative to
the origin(O).Hence Position vector is another way to denote a point in space.

̅𝑂̅𝑃̅= 𝑥𝑎̅𝑥 + 𝑦𝑎̅𝑦 + 𝑧𝑎̅𝑧

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Displacement Vector

Displacement Vector is the displacement or the shortest distance from one point to another.

Vector Multiplication

When two vectors are multiplied the result is either a scalar or a vector depending on how
they are multiplied. The two important types of vector multiplication are:

 Dot Product/Scalar Product (A.B)

 Cross product (A x B)

1. DOT PRODUCT (A. B):

Dot product of two vectors A and B is defined as:

𝐴̅. 𝐵
̅ = │𝐴̅││𝐵̅│ cos 𝜃𝐴𝐵

Where 𝜃𝐴𝐵 is the angle formed between A and B.

Also 𝜃𝐴𝐵 ranges from 0 to π i.e. 0 ≤ 𝜃𝐴𝐵 ≤ π
The result of A.B is a scalar, hence dot product is also known as Scalar Product.

Properties of Dot Product:

1. If A = (Ax, Ay, Az) and B = (Bx, By, Bz) then

𝐴̅. 𝐵̅= AxBx + AyBy + AzBz

2. 𝐴̅. 𝐵̅= |A| |B|, if cos𝜃𝐴𝐵 =1 which means θ AB = 00

This shows that A and B are in the same direction or we can also say that A and B are
parallel to each other.

3. 𝐴̅. 𝐵̅ = - |A| |B|, if cos 𝜃𝐴𝐵=-1 which means 𝜃𝐴𝐵 = 1800.

This shows that A and B are in the opposite direction or we can also say that A and B are
antiparallel to each other.

45.. 𝐴̅. 𝐵
̅ = 0, if cos 𝜃𝐴𝐵 =0 which means 𝜃𝐴𝐵 = 900.
This shows that A and B are orthogonal or perpendicular to each other.

5. Since we know the Cartesian base vectors are mutually perpendicular to each other, we have

𝑎̅𝑥 . 𝑎̅𝑥 = 𝑎̅𝑦 . 𝑎̅𝑦 = 𝑎̅𝑧 . 𝑎̅𝑧 = 1

𝑎̅𝑥 . 𝑎̅𝑦 = 𝑎̅𝑦 . 𝑎̅𝑧 = 𝑎̅𝑧 . 𝑎̅𝑥 = 0

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2. Cross Product (A X B):

Cross Product of two vectors A and B is given as:

𝐴̅𝑋 𝐵
̅ = │𝐴̅││𝐵̅│ sin 𝜃𝐴𝐵 𝑎̅𝑁

Where 𝜃𝐴𝐵 is the angle formed between A and B and 𝑎̅𝑁 is a unit vector normal to both A and B.
Also θ ranges from 0 to π i.e. 0 ≤ 𝜃𝐴𝐵≤ π

The cross product is an operation between two vectors and the output is also a vector.

Properties of Cross Product:

1. If A = (Ax, Ay, Az) and B = (Bx, By, Bz) then,

The resultant vector is always normal to both the vector A and B.

2. 𝐴̅𝑋𝐵̅ = 0, if sin 𝜃𝐴𝐵 = 0 which means 𝜃𝐴𝐵 = 00 or 1800;

This shows that A and B are either parallel or antiparallel to each other.

̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ 𝑁, if sin 𝜃𝐴𝐵 = 0 which means 𝜃𝐴𝐵 = 900.

. . 𝐴𝑋𝐵=│𝐴││𝐵│𝑎
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This shows that A and B are orthogonal or perpendicular to each other.

4. Since we know the Cartesian base vectors are mutually perpendicular to each other, we have
𝑎̅𝑥 𝑋 𝑎̅𝑥 = 𝑎̅𝑦 𝑋 𝑎̅𝑦 = 𝑎̅𝑧 𝑋𝑎̅𝑧 = 0
𝑎̅𝑥 𝑋 𝑎̅𝑦 = 𝑎̅𝑧 , 𝑎̅𝑦 𝑋 𝑎̅𝑧 = 𝑎̅𝑥 , 𝑎̅𝑧 𝑋 𝑎̅𝑥 = 𝑎̅𝑦

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CO-ORDINATE SYSTEMS:

Co-Ordinate system is a system of representing points in a space of given dimensions by

coordinates, such as the Cartesian coordinate system or the system of celestial longitude and
latitude.

In order to describe the spatial variations of the quantities, appropriate coordinate system is
required. A point or vector can be represented in a curvilinear coordinate system that may be
orthogonal or non-orthogonal. An orthogonal system is one in which the coordinates are mutually
perpendicular to each other.

The different co-ordinate system available are:

 Cartesian or Rectangular co-ordinate system.(Example: Cube, Cuboid)

 Circular Cylindrical co-ordinate system.(Example : Cylinder)

 Spherical co-ordinate system. (Example: Sphere)

The choice depends on the geometry of the application.

A set of 3 scalar values that define position and a set of unit vectors that define direction form
a co-ordinate system. The 3 scalar values used to define position are called co-ordinates. All
coordinates are defined with respect to an arbitrary point called the origin.

1. Cartesian Co-ordinate System / Rectangular Co-ordinate System (x,y,z)

A Vector in Cartesian system is represented as (Ax, Ay, Az) Or

𝐴̅ = 𝐴𝑥 𝑎̅𝑥 + 𝐴𝑦 𝑎̅𝑦 + 𝐴𝑧 𝑎̅𝑧
Where𝑎̅𝑥 ,𝑎̅𝑦 and 𝑎̅𝑧are the unit vectors in x, y, z direction respectively.

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Range of the variables:

It defines the minimum and the maximum value that x, y and z can have in Cartesian system.
-∞ ≤ x,y,z ≤ ∞
Differential Displacement / Differential Length (dl):

It is given as

𝑑̅𝑙 = 𝑑𝑥𝑎̅𝑥 + 𝑑𝑦𝑎̅𝑦 + 𝑑𝑧𝑎̅𝑧

Differential length for a line parallel to x, y and z axis are respectively given as:

dl = 𝑑𝑥𝑎̅𝑥 ---( For a line parallel to x-axis).

dl = 𝑑𝑦𝑎̅𝑦 ---( For a line Parallel to y-axis).
dl = 𝑑𝑧𝑎̅𝑧 ---( For a line parallel to z-axis).

If there is a wire of length L in z-axis, then the differential length is given as dl = dz az. Similarly
if the wire is in y-axis then the differential length is given as dl = dy ay.

Differential Normal Surface (ds):

Differential surface is basically a cross product between two parameters of the surface.
The differential surface (area element) is defined as
̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑑𝑠𝑎̅𝑁
Where𝑎̅𝑁 , is the unit vector perpendicular to the surface.

For the 1st figure,

̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑑𝑦𝑑𝑧𝑎̅𝑥

2nd figure,
̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑑𝑥𝑑𝑧𝑎̅𝑦

3rd figure,
̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑑𝑥𝑑𝑦𝑎̅𝑧

Differential Volume:

The differential volume element (dv) can be expressed in terms of the triple product.
𝑑𝑣 = 𝑑𝑥𝑑𝑦𝑑𝑧

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2. Circular Cylindrical Co-ordinate System

A Vector in Cylindrical system is represented as (Ar, AǾ, Az) or

𝐴̅ = 𝐴𝑟 𝑎̅𝑟 + 𝐴∅𝑎̅∅ + 𝐴𝑧 𝑎̅𝑧

Where𝑎̅𝑟 , 𝑎̅∅ and 𝑎̅𝑧 are the unit vectors in r, Φ and z directions respectively.

The physical significance of each parameter of cylindrical coordinates:

1. The value r indicates the distance of the point from the z-axis. It is the radius of the
cylinder.
2. The value Φ, also called the azimuthal angle, indicates the rotation angle around the z-
axis. It is basically measured from the x axis in the x-y plane. It is measured anti
clockwise.
3. The value z indicates the distance of the point from z-axis. It is the same as in the
Cartesian system. In short, it is the height of the cylinder.

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Range of the variables:

It defines the minimum and the maximum values of r, Φ and z.

0≤r≤∞
0 ≤ Φ ≤ 2π
-∞ ≤ z ≤ ∞

Figure shows Point P and Unit vectors in Cylindrical Co-ordinate System.

Differential Displacement / Differential Length (dl):

It is given as

𝑑̅𝑙 = 𝑑𝑟𝑎̅𝑟 + 𝑟𝑑𝜑𝑎̅𝜑 + 𝑑𝑧𝑎̅𝑧

Differential length for a line parallel to r, Φ and z axis are respectively given as:

dl = 𝑑𝑟𝑎̅𝑟 ---( For a line parallel to r-direction).

dl = 𝑟𝑑𝜑𝑎̅𝜑 ---( For a line Parallel to Φ-direction).
dl = 𝑑𝑧𝑎̅𝑧 ---( For a line parallel to z-axis).

Differential Normal Surface (ds):

Differential surface is basically a cross product between two parameters of the surface.
The differential surface (area element) is defined as
̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑑𝑠𝑎̅𝑁
Where𝑎̅𝑁 , is the unit vector perpendicular to the surface.

This surface describes a circular disc. Always remember- To define a circular disk we
need two parameter one distance measure and one angular measure. An angular parameter
will always give a curved line or an arc.

In this case dΦ is measured in terms of change in arc.

Arc is given as:

Arc= radius * angle
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̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑟𝑑𝑟𝑑𝜑𝑎̅𝑧
̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑑𝑟𝑑𝑧𝑎̅𝜑
̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑟𝑑𝑟𝑑𝜑𝑎̅𝑟

Differential Volume:

The differential volume element (dv) can be expressed in terms of the triple product.
𝑑𝑣 = 𝑟𝑑𝑟𝑑𝜑𝑑𝑧

3. Spherical coordinate System:

Spherical coordinates consist of one scalar value (r), with units of distance, while the other two
scalarvalues (θ, Φ) have angular units (degrees or radians).

A Vector in Spherical System is represented as (Ar ,AӨ, AΦ) or

𝐴̅ = 𝐴𝑟 𝑎̅𝑟 + 𝐴𝜃 𝑎̅𝜃 + 𝐴𝜑 𝑎̅𝜑
Where𝑎̅𝑟 ,𝑎̅𝜃 and 𝑎̅𝜑 are the unit vectors in r, θ and Φ direction respectively.

The physical significance of each parameter of spherical coordinates:

1. The value r expresses the distance of the point from origin (i.e. similar to
altitude). It is the radius of the sphere.
2. The angle θ is the angle formed with the z- axis (i.e. similar to latitude). It is also
called the co-latitude angle. It is measured clockwise.
3. The angle Φ, also called the azimuthal angle, indicates the rotation angle around the z-
axis (i.e. similar to longitude). It is basically measured from the x axis in the x-y plane.
It is measured counter-clockwise.

Range of the variables:

It defines the minimum and the maximum value that r, θ and υ can have in spherical co-ordinate
system.

0 ≤ r ≤ ∞
0≤θ≤π
0 ≤ Φ≤ 2π

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Differential length:
It is given as
𝑑̅𝑙 = 𝑑𝑟𝑎̅𝑟 + 𝑟𝑑𝜃𝑎̅𝜃 + 𝑟 sin 𝜃 𝑑𝜑𝑎̅𝜑

Differential length for a line parallel to r, θ and Φ axis are respectively given as:

dl = 𝑑𝑟𝑎̅𝑟 --(For a line parallel to r axis)

dl = 𝑟𝑑𝜃𝑎̅𝜃 ---( For a line parallel to θ direction)

dl = 𝑟 sin 𝜃 𝑑𝜑𝑎̅𝜑 --(For a line parallel to Φ direction)

Differential Normal Surface (ds):

Differential surface is basically a cross product between two parameters of the surface.
The differential surface (area element) is defined as
̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑑𝑠𝑎̅𝑁
Where𝑎̅𝑁 , is the unit vector perpendicular to the surface.

̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑟𝑑𝑟𝑑𝜃𝑎̅𝜑
̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑟 2 sin 𝜃 𝑑𝜑𝑑𝜃𝑎̅𝑟
̅𝑑̅𝑠= 𝑟 sin 𝜃 𝑑𝑟𝑑𝜑𝑎̅𝜃

Differential Volume:

The differential volume element (dv) can be expressed in terms of the triple product.
𝑑𝑣 = 𝑟2 sin 𝜃 𝑑𝑟𝑑𝜑𝑑𝜃

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Coordinate transformations:

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Del operator:

Del is a vector differential operator. The del operator will be used in for differential operations
throughout any course on field theory. The following equation is the del operator for different
coordinate systems.

Gradient of a Scalar:

• The gradient of a scalar field, V, is a vector that represents both the magnitude and the
direction of the maximum space rate of increase of V.

• To help visualize this concept, take for example a topographical map. Lines on the map
represent equal magnitudes of the scalar field. The gradient vector crosses map at the location
where the lines packed into the most dense space and perpendicular (or normal) to them. The
orientation (up or down) of the gradient vector is such that the field is increased in magnitude
along that direction.

-Fundamental properties of the gradient of a scalar field

– The magnitude of gradient equals the maximum rate of change in V per unit distance
– Gradient points in the direction of the maximum rate of change in V
– Gradient at any point is perpendicular to the constant V surface that passes through that
point
– The projection of the gradient in the direction of the unit vector a, is

and is called the directional derivative of V along a. This is the rate of change of V
in the direction of a.
– If A is the gradient of V, then V is said to be the scalar potential of A.

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Divergence of a Vector:
• The divergence of a vector, A, at any given point P is the outward flux per unit volume as
volume shrinks about P.

Divergence Theorem:
• The divergence theorem states that the total outward flux of a vector field, A, through the
closed surface, S, is the same as the volume integral of the divergence of A.
• This theorem is easily shown from the equation for the divergence of a vector field.

Curl of a Vector:
The curl of a vector, A is an axial vector whose magnitude is the maximum circulation of A
per unit area as the area tends to zero and whose direction is the normal direction of the area
when the area is oriented to make the circulation maximum.
-Curl of a vector in each of the three primary coordinate systems are ,

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Stokes Theorem:
• Stokes theorem states that the circulation of a vector field A, around a closed path, L is equal
to the surface integral of the curl of A over the open surface S bounded by L. This theorem has
been proven to hold as long as A and the curl of A are continuous along the closed surface S of
a closed path L
• This theorem is easily shown from the equation for the curl of a vector field.

Classification of vector field:

The vector field, A, is said to be divergenceless ( or solenoidal) if .
– Such fields have no source or sink of flux, thus all the vector field lines entering an enclosed
surface, S, must also leave it.
– Examples include magnetic fields, conduction current density under steady state, and
imcompressible fluids
– The following equations are commonly utilized to solve divergenceless field problems

The vector field, A, is said to be potential (or irrotational) if

– Such fields are said to be conservative. Examples include gravity, and electrostatic fields.
– The following equations are commonly used to solve potential field problems;

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Electrostatics-I
Introduction:

Electromagnetic theory is concerned with the study of charges at rest and in motion.
Electromagnetic principles are fundamental to the study of electrical engineering.
Electromagnetic theory is also required for the understanding, analysis and design of various
electrical, electromechanical and electronic systems.

Electromagnetic theory can be thought of as generalization of circuit theory. Electromagnetic

theory deals directly with the electric and magnetic field vectors where as circuit theory deals
with the voltages and currents. Voltages and currents are integrated effects of electric and
magnetic fields respectively.

Electromagnetic field problems involve three space variables along with the time variable and
hence the solution tends to become correspondingly complex. Vector analysis is the required
mathematical tool with which electromagnetic concepts can be conveniently expressed and best
comprehended. Since use of vector analysis in the study of electromagnetic field theory is
prerequisite, first we will go through vector algebra.

Applications of Electromagnetic theory:

This subject basically consist of static electric fields, static magnetic fields, time-varying fields &
it’ applications. One of the most common applications of electrostatic fields is the deflection of a
charged particle such as an electron or proton in order to control it’s trajectory. The deflection is
achieved by maintaining a potential difference between a pair of parallel plates. This principle is
used in CROs, ink-jet printer etc. Electrostatic fields are also used for sorting of minerals for
example in ore separation. Other applications are in electrostatic generator and electrostatic
voltmeter.

The most common applications of static magnetic fields are in dc machines. Other
applications include magnetic deflection, magnetic separator, cyclotron, hall effect sensors,
magneto hydrodynamic generator etc.
Electrostatics is a branch of science that involves the study of various phenomena caused by
electric charges that are slow-moving or even stationary. Electric charge is a fundamental
property of matter and charge exist in integral multiple of electronic charge. Electrostatics as the
study of electric charges at rest.

The two important laws of electrostatics are

 Coulomb‘s Law.
 Gauss‘s Law.

Both these laws are used to find the electric field due to different charge configurations.

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Coulomb‘s law is applicable in finding electric field due to any charge configurations where as
Gauss‘s law is applicable only when the charge distribution is symmetrical.

Coulomb's Law
Coulomb's Law states that the force between two point charges Q1and Q2 is directly
proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between them.
A point charge is a charge that occupies a region of space which is negligibly small compared to
the distance between the point charge and any other object.
Point charge is a hypothetical charge located at a single point in space. It is an idealized model of
a particle having an electric charge.

Mathematically, , where k is the proportionality constant.

In SI units, Q1 and Q2 are expressed in Coulombs(C) and R is in meters.

Force F is in Newtons (N) and , is called the permittivity of free space.

(We are assuming the charges are in free space. If the charges are any other dielectric medium,

we will use instead where is called the relative permittivity or the dielectric
constant of the medium).

Therefore ................................................ (1)

As shown in the Figure 1 let the position vectors of the point charges Q1and Q2 are given by

and . Let represent the force on Q1 due to charge Q2.

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Fig 1: Coulomb's Law

The charges are separated by a distance of . We define the unit vectors as

and

can be defined as .

Similarly the force on Q1 due to charge Q2 can be calculated and if represents this force then

we can write

When we have a number of point charges, to determine the force on a particular charge due to all
other charges, we apply principle of superposition. If we have N number of charges

Q1,Q2,.........QN located respectively at the points represented by the position vectors , ,......

, the force experienced by a charge Q located at is given by,

Field:

A field is a function that specifies a particular physical quantity everywhere in a region.

Depending upon the nature of the quantity under consideration, the field may be a vector or a
scalar field. Example of scalar field is the electrostatic potential in a region while electric or
magnetic fields at any point is the example of vector field.
Static Electric Fields:
Electrostatics can be defined as the study of electric charges at rest. Electric fields have their
sources in electric charges. The fundamental & experimentally proved laws of electrostatics
are Coulomb’s law & Gauss’s theorem.

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Electric Field:

Electric field due to a charge is the space around the unit charge in which it experiences a force.
Electric field intensity or the electric field strength at a point is defined as the force per unit
charge.

Mathematically,

E=F/Q
OR

F=EQ
The force on charge Q is the product of a charge (which is a scalar) and the value of the
electric field (which is a vector) at the point where the charge is located. That is

or,

The electric field intensity E at a point r (observation point) due a point charge Q located at
(source point) is given by:

For a collection of N point charges Q1 ,Q2 ,.........QN located at , ,...... , the electric field
intensity at point is obtained as

The expression (6) can be modified suitably to compute the electric filed due to a continuous
distribution of charges.

In figure 2 we consider a continuous volume distribution of charge (t) in the region denoted as
the source region.

For an elementary charge , i.e. considering this charge as point charge, we can
write the field expression as:

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Fig 2: Continuous Volume Distribution of Charge

When this expression is integrated over the source region, we get the electric field at the point P
due to this distribution of charges. Thus the expression for the electric field at P can be written
as:

...............volume charge...........................

Similar technique can be adopted when the charge distribution is in the form of a line charge
density or a surface charge density.

.....................line charge ................

..................surface charge......................

Electric Lines of Forces:

Electric line of force is a pictorial representation of the electric field.

Electric line of force (also called Electric Flux lines or Streamlines) is an imaginary straight or
curved path along which a unit positive charge tends to move in an electric field.

Properties Of Electric Lines Of Force:

1. Lines of force start from positive charge and terminate either at negative
charge or move to infinity.
2. Similarly lines of force due to a negative charge are assumed to start at
infinity and terminate at the negative charge.

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3. The number of lines per unit area, through a plane at right angles to the lines, is
proportional to the magnitude of E. This means that, where the lines of force are close
together, E is large and where they are far apart E is small.

4. If there is no charge in a volume, then each field line which enters it must also leave it.

5. If there is a positive charge in a volume then more field lines leave it than enter it.

6. If there is a negative charge in a volume then more field lines enter it than leave it.

7. Hence we say Positive charges are sources and Negative charges are sinks of the field.

8. These lines are independent on medium.

9. Lines of force never intersect i.e. they do not cross each other.

10. Tangent to a line of force at any point gives the direction of the electric field E at that
point.

Electricfluxdensity:
As stated earlier electric field intensity or simply ‘Electric field' gives the strength of the field at
a particular point. The electric field depends on the material media in which the field is being
considered. The flux density vector is defined to be independent of the material media (as we'll
see that it relates to the charge that is producing it).For a linear isotropic medium under
consideration; the flux density vector is defined as:

We define the electric flux as

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Solved problems:

Problem1:

Problem-2

Problem-3

Problem-4

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Problem-5

Problem-6

Problem-7

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Problem-8

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UNIT - II:
Electrostatics-II

 Gauss Law and Applications

 Electric Potential
 Relations between E and V
 Maxwell’s Equations for Electrostatic Fields
 Dielectric Constant
 Isotropic and Homogeneous Dielectrics
 Continuity Equation
 Relaxation Time
 Poisson's and Laplace's Equations
 Boundary conditions-conductor-Dielectric and Dielectric-Dielectric
 Problems.

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Gauss's Law:

Gauss's law is one of the fundamental laws of electromagnetism and it states that the total
electric flux through a closed surface is equal to the total charge enclosed by the surface.

Fig 3: Gauss's Law

Let us consider a point charge Q located in an isotropic homogeneous medium of dielectric

constant . The flux density at a distance r on a surface enclosing the charge is given by

If we consider an elementary area ds, the amount of flux passing through the elementary area is
given by

But , is the elementary solid angle subtended by the area at the location of Q.

Therefore we can write

For a closed surface enclosing the charge, we can write

which can seen to be same as what we have stated in the definition of Gauss's Law.

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This equation is called the 1st Maxwell's equation of electrostatics.

Application of Gauss's Law:

Gauss's law is particularly useful in computing or where the charge distribution has some
symmetry. We shall illustrate the application of Gauss's Law with some examples.

1. due to an infinite line charge

As the first example of illustration of use of Gauss's law, let consider the problem of
determination of the electric field produced by an infinite line charge of density LC/m. Let us
consider a line charge positioned along the z-axis as shown in Fig. 4(a) (next slide). Since the
line charge is assumed to be infinitely long, the electric field will be of the form as shown in Fig.
4(b) (next slide).

If we consider a close cylindrical surface as shown in Fig. 2.4(a), using Gauss's theorm we can
write,

Considering the fact that the unit normal vector to areas S1 and S3 are perpendicular to the
electric field, the surface integrals for the top and bottom surfaces evaluates to zero. Hence we

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can write,

Fig 4: Infinite Line Charge

2. Infinite Sheet of Charge

As a second example of application of Gauss's theorem, we consider an infinite charged sheet

covering the x-z plane as shown in figure 5. Assuming a surface charge density of for the
infinite surface charge, if we consider a cylindrical volume having sides placed symmetrically
as shown in figure 5, we can write:

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Fig 5: Infinite Sheet of Charge

It may be noted that the electric field strength is independent of distance. This is true for the
infinite plane of charge; electric lines of force on either side of the charge will be perpendicular
to the sheet and extend to infinity as parallel lines. As number of lines of force per unit area gives
the strength of the field, the field becomes independent of distance. For a finite charge sheet, the
field will be a function of distance.

3. Uniformly Charged Sphere

Let us consider a sphere of radius r0 having a uniform volume charge density of rv C/m3. To

determine everywhere, inside and outside the sphere, we construct Gaussian surfaces of
radius r < r0 and r > r0 as shown in Fig. 6 (a) and Fig. 6(b).

For the region ; the total enclosed charge will be

Fig 6: Uniformly Charged Sphere

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By applying Gauss's theorem,

Therefore

For the region ; the total enclosed charge will be

By applying Gauss's theorem,

Electric Potential / Electrostatic Potential (V):

If a charge is placed in the vicinity of another charge (or in the field of another charge), it
experiences a force. If a field being acted on by a force is moved from one point to another, then
work is either said to be done on the system or by the system.

Say a point charge Q is moved from point A to point B in an electric field E, then the
work done in moving the point charge is given as:

WA→B = - ∫AB (F . dl) = - Q ∫AB(E . dl)

where the – ve sign indicates that the work is done on the system by an external agent.

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The work done per unit charge in moving a test charge from point A to point B is the
electrostatic potential difference between the two points(VAB).

VAB = WA→B / Q

- ∫AB(E . dl)

- ∫InitialFinal (E . dl)

If the potential difference is positive, there is a gain in potential energy in the movement,
external agent performs the work against the field. If the sign of the potential difference is
negative, work is done by the field.

The electrostatic field is conservative i.e. the value of the line integral depends only on
end points and is independent of the path taken.

- Since the electrostatic field is conservative, the electric potential can also be written as:

𝐵
𝑉𝐴𝐵 = − ∫ ̅𝐸 . 𝑑̅𝑙
𝐴

𝑝0 𝐵
𝑉𝐴𝐵 = − ∫ ̅𝐸 . 𝑑̅𝑙 − ∫ ̅𝐸 . 𝑑̅𝑙
𝐴 𝑝0
𝐵 𝐴
𝑉𝐴𝐵 = − ∫ ̅𝐸 . 𝑑̅𝑙 + ∫ ̅𝐸 . 𝑑̅𝑙
𝑝0 𝑝0

𝑉𝐴𝐵 = 𝑉𝐵 − 𝑉𝐴

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Thus the potential difference between two points in an electrostatic field is a scalar field that
is defined at every point in space and is independent of the path taken.

- The work done in moving a point charge from point A to point B can be written as:

WA→B = - Q [V B – V A] = −𝑄 ∫𝐴𝐵 𝐸̅. 𝑑̅𝑙

- Consider a point charge Q at origin O.

Now if a unit test charge is moved from point A to Point B, then the potential difference between
them is given as:

- Electrostatic potential or Scalar Electric potential (V) at any point P is given by:

𝑃
𝑉 = − ∫ 𝐸̅. 𝑑̅𝑙
𝑃0

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The reference point Po is where the potential is zero (analogues to ground in a circuit).
The reference is often taken to be at infinity so that the potential of a point in space is
defined as
𝑃
𝑉 = − ∫ 𝐸̅. 𝑑̅𝑙
∞

Basically potential is considered to be zero at infinity. Thus potential at any point ( rB = r) due
to a point charge Q can be written as the amount of work done in bringing a unit positive
charge frominfinity to that point (i.e. rA → ∞)

Electric potential (V) at point r due to a point charge Q located at a point with position vector
r1 is given as:

Similarly for N point charges Q1, Q2 ….Qn located at points with position vectors r1,
r2, r3…..rn, theelectric potential (V) at point r is given as:

The charge element dQ and the total charge due to different charge distribution is given as:

dQ = ρldl → Q = ∫L (ρldl) → (Line Charge)

dQ = ρsds → Q = ∫S (ρsds) → (Surface Charge)

dQ = ρvdv → Q = ∫V (ρvdv) → (Volume Charge)

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Second Maxwell’s Equation of Electrostatics:

The work done per unit charge in moving a test charge from point A to point B is the
electrostatic potential difference between the two points(VAB).
VAB = VB – VA
Similarly,
VBA = VA – VB

Hence it‘s clear that potential difference is independent of the path taken. Therefore
VAB = - VBA

VAB+ VBA = 0

∫AB (E . dl) + [ - ∫BA (E . dl) ] = 0

The above equation is called the second Maxwell‘s Equation of Electrostatics in integral form..
The above equation shows that the line integral of Electric field intensity (E) along a closed path
is equal to zero.
In simple words―No work is done in moving a charge along a closed path in an electrostatic
field.
Applying Stokes‘ Theorem to the above Equation, we have:

If the Curl of any vector field is equal to zero, then such a vector field is called an Irrotational or
Conservative Field. Hence an electrostatic field is also called a conservative field.
The above equation is called the second Maxwell‘s Equation of Electrostatics in differential
form.

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Relationship Between Electric Field Intensity (E) and Electric Potential (V):
Since Electric potential is a scalar quantity, hence dV (as a function of x, y and z variables) can
be written as:

Hence the Electric field intensity (E) is the negative gradient of Electric potential (V).
The negative sign shows that E is directed from higher to lower values of V i.e. E is opposite to
the direction in which V increases.

Work Done To Assemble Charges:

In case, if we wish to assemble a number of charges in an empty system, work is required to do

so. Also electrostatic energy is said to be stored in such a collection.

Let us build up a system in which we position three point charges Q1, Q2 and Q3 at position r1,
r2 and r3 respectively in an initially empty system.

Consider a point charge Q1 transferred from infinity to position r1 in the system. It takes no
work to bring the first charge from infinity since there is no electric field to fight against (as the
system is empty i.e. charge free).
Hence, W1 = 0 J

Now bring in another point charge Q2 from infinity to position r2 in the system. In this case we
have to do work against the electric field generated by the first charge Q1.
Hence, W2 = Q2 V21

where V21 is the electrostatic potential at point r2 due to Q1.

- Work done W2 is also given as:

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Now bring in another point charge Q3 from infinity to position r3 in the system. In this case
we have to do work against the electric field generated by Q1 and Q2.

Hence, W3 = Q3 V31 + Q3 V32 = Q3 ( V31 + V32 )

where V31 and V32 are electrostatic potential at point r3 due to Q1 and Q2 respectively.

The work done is simply the sum of the work done against the electric field generated by
point charge Q1 and Q2 taken in isolation:

- Thus the total work done in assembling the three charges is given as:

WE = W1 + W2 + W3

0 + Q2 V21 + Q3 ( V31 + V32 )

Also total work done ( WE ) is given as:

If the charges were positioned in reverse order, then the total work done in assembling them
is given as:
WE = W3 + W2+ W1
= 0 + Q2V23 + Q3( V12+ V13)

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Where V23 is the electrostatic potential at point r2 due to Q3 and V12 and V13 are electrostatic
potential at point r1 due to Q2 and Q3 respectively.

- Adding the above two equations we have,

2WE = Q1 (V12 + V13) + Q2 (V21 + V23) + Q3 (V31 + V32)

= Q1 V1 + Q2 V2 + Q3 V3

Hence
WE =1 / 2 [Q1V1 + Q2V2 + Q3V3]

where V1, V2 and V3 are total potentials at position r1, r2 and r3 respectively.

- The result can be generalized for N point charges as:

The above equation has three interpretation: This equation represents the potential energy of the
system.This is the work done in bringing the static charges from infinity and assembling them in
the required system. This is the kinetic energy which would be released if the system gets
dissolved i.e. the charges returns back to infinity.
In place of point charge, if the system has continuous charge distribution ( line, surface or
volume charge), then the total work done in assembling them is given as:

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Since ρv = ∇ . D and E = - ∇ V,

Substituting the values in the above equation, work done in assembling a volume charge
distribution in terms of electric field and flux density is given as:

The above equation tells us that the potential energy of a continuous charge distribution
is stored in an electric field.

The electrostatic energy density wE is defined as:

Properties of Materials and Steady Electric Current:

Electric field can not only exist in free space and vacuum but also in any material medium. When
an electric field is applied to the material, the material will modify the electric field either by
strengthening it or weakening it, depending on what kind of material it is.

Materials are classified into 3 groups based on conductivity / electrical property:

 Conductors (Metals like Copper, Aluminum, etc.) have high conductivity (σ >> 1).
 Insulators / Dielectric (Vacuum, Glass, Rubber, etc.) have low conductivity (σ << 1).
 Semiconductors (Silicon, Germanium, etc.) have intermediate conductivity.
Conductivity (σ) is a measure of the ability of the material to conduct electricity. It is
the reciprocal of resistivity (ρ). Units of conductivity are Siemens/meter and mho.

The basic difference between a conductor and an insulator lies in the amount of free electrons
available for conduction of current. Conductors have a large amount of free electrons where as
insulators have only a few number ofelectrons for conduction of current. Most of the conductors
obey ohm‘s law. Such conductors are also called ohmic conductors.

Due to the movement of free charges, several types of electric current can be caused.
The different types of electric current are:

 Conduction Current.
 Convection Current.
 Displacement Current.

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Electric current:

Electric current (I) defines the rate at which the net charge passes through a wire of
cross sectional surface area S.

Mathematically,

If a net charge ΔQ moves across surface S in some small amount of time Δt, electric current(I)
is defined as:

How fast or how speed the charges will move depends on the nature of the material medium.

Current density:

Current density (J) is defined as current ΔI flowing through surface ΔS.

Imagine surface area ΔS inside a conductor at right angles to the flow of current. As the
area approaches zero, the current density at a point is defined as:

The above equation is applicable only when current density (J) is normal to the surface.
In case if current density(J) is not perpendicular to the surface, consider a small area ds of
the conductor at an angle θ to the flow of current as shown:

In this case current flowing through the area is given as:

dI = J dS cosθ = J . dS and 𝐼 = ∫𝑆𝐽̅̅. ̅𝑑̅𝑠̅

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Where angle θ is the angle between the normal to the area and direction of the current.

From the above equation it‘s clear that electric current is a scalar quantity.

CONVECTION CURRENT DENSITY:

Convection current occurs in insulators or dielectrics such as liquid, vacuum and rarified gas.
Convection current results from motion of electrons or ions in an insulating medium. Since
convection current doesn‘t involve conductors, hence it does not satisfy ohm‘s law. Consider a
filament where there is a flow of charge ρv at a velocity u = uy ay.

- Hence the current is given as:

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Where uy is the velocity of the moving electron or ion and ρ v is the free volume charge density.

- Hence the convection current density in general is given as:

J = ρv u
Conduction Current Density:
Conduction current occurs in conductors where there are a large number of free electrons.
Conduction current occurs due to the drift motion of electrons (charge carriers). Conduction
current obeys ohm‘s law.
When an external electric field is applied to a metallic conductor, conduction current
occurs due to the drift of electrons.

The charge inside the conductor experiences a force due to the electric field and hence should
accelerate but due to continuous collision with atomic lattice, their velocity is reduced. The net
effect is that the electrons moves or drifts with an average velocity called the drift
velocity (υd) which is proportional to the applied electric field (E).

Hence according to Newton‘s law, if an electron with a mass m is moving in an electric

field E with anaverage drift velocity υd, the the average change in momentum of the free
electron must be equal to the applied force (F = - e E).

The drift velocity per unit applied electric field is called the mobility of electrons (μe).
υd = - μe E

where μe is defined as:

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Consider a conducting wire in which charges subjected to an electric field are moving with
drift velocity υd.
Say there are Ne free electrons per cubic meter of conductor, then the free volume
charge density(ρv)within the wire is
ρv= - e Ne

The charge ΔQ is given as:

ΔQ = ρv ΔV = - e Ne ΔS Δl = - e Ne ΔS υd Δt

- The incremental current is thus given as:

The conduction current density is thus defined as:

where σ is the conductivity of the material.

The above equation is known as the Ohm‘s law in point form and is valid at every point
in space.
In a semiconductor, current flow is due to the movement of both electrons and
holes, hence conductivity is given as:
σ = ( Ne μe + Nh μh )e

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DIELECTRC CONSTANT:
It is also known as Relative permittivity.

If two charges q 1 and q 2 are separated from each other by a small distance r. Then by
using the coulombs law of forces the equation formed will be

In the above equation is the electrical permittivity or you can say it, Dielectric constant.

If we repeat the above case with only one change i.e. only change in the separation
medium between the charges. Here some material medium must be used. Then the
equation formed will be.

Now after division of above two equations

In the above figure

is the Relative Permittivity. Again one thing to notice is that the dielectric constant is
represented by the symbol (K) but permittivity by the symbol

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

CONTINUITY EQUATION:
The continuity equation is derived from two of Maxwell's equations. It states that the
divergence of the current density is equal to the negative rate of change of the charge density,

Derivation

One of Maxwell's equations, Ampère's law, states that

Taking the divergence of both sides results in

but the divergence of a curl is zero, so that

Another one of Maxwell's equations, Gauss's law, states that

Substitute this into equation (1) to obtain

which is the continuity equation.

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LAPLACE'S AND POISSON'S EQUATIONS:

A useful approach to the calculation of electric potentials is to relate that potential to the
charge density which gives rise to it. The electric field is related to the charge density by the
divergence relationship

and the electric field is related to the electric potential by a gradient relationship

Therefore the potential is related to the charge density by Poisson's equation

In a charge-free region of space, this becomes LaPlace's equation

This mathematical operation, the divergence of the gradient of a function, is called the
LaPlacian. Expressing the LaPlacian in different coordinate systems to take advantage of the
symmetry of a charge distribution helps in the solution for the electric potential V. For example,
if the charge distribution has spherical symmetry, you use the LaPlacian in spherical polar
coordinates.
Since the potential is a scalar function, this approach has advantages over trying to calculate the
electric field directly. Once the potential has been calculated, the electric field can be computed
by taking the gradient of the potential.

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Polarization of Dielectric:
If a material contains polar molecules, they will generally be in random orientations when
no electric field is applied. An applied electric field will polarize the material by orienting
the dipole moments of polar molecules.

This decreases the effective electric

field between the plates and will
increase the capacitance of the parallel
plate structure. The dielectric must be
a good electric insulator so as to
minimize any DC leakage current
through a capacitor.

The presence of the dielectric decreases the electric field produced by a given charge density.

The factor k by which the effective field is decreased by the polarization of the
dielectric is called the dielectric constant of the material.

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Solved problems:

Problem1:

Problem-2

Problem-3

Problem-4

Problem-5
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Problem-6

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

UNIT-III
MAGNETOSTATICS
Contents:
 Biot - Savart's Law
 Ampere's Circuital Law and Applications
 Magnetic Flux Density
 Maxwell’s Equations for Magnetostatic Fields
 Magnetic Scalar and Vector Potentials
 Ampere's Force Law
 Faraday's Law
 Transformer EMF
 Displacement Current Density
 Maxwell's Equations for time varying fields
 Illustrative Problems.

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Introduction:
In previous chapters we have seen that an electrostatic field is produced by static or stationary charges.
The relationship of the steady magnetic field to its sources is much more complicated.

The source of steady magnetic field may be a permanent magnet, a direct current or an electric
field changing with time. In this chapter we shall mainly consider the magnetic field produced by
a direct current. The magnetic field produced due to time varying electric field will be discussed
later.
There are two major laws governing the magneto static fields are:
 Biot-Savart Law

 Ampere's Law

Usually, the magnetic field intensity is represented by the vector . It is customary to represent the
direction of the magnetic field intensity (or current) by a small circle with a dot or cross sign
depending on whether the field (or current) is out of or into the page as shown in Fig. 2.1.

(or l ) out of the page (or l ) into the page

Fig. Representation of magnetic field (or current)

Biot- Savart’s Law:

This law relates the magnetic field intensity dH produced at a point due to a differential
current element as shown in Fig.

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

The magnetic field intensity at P can be written as,

where is the distance of the current element from the point P.

The value of the constant of proportionality 'K' depends upon a property called permeability of
the medium around the conductor. Permeability is represented by symbol 'm' and the constant 'K'
is expressed in terms of 'm' as

Magnetic field 'B' is a vector and unless we give the direction of 'dB', its description is not
complete. Its direction is found to be perpendicular to the plane of 'r' and 'dl'.

If we assign the direction of the current 'I' to the length element 'dl', the vector product dl x r has
magnitude r dl sinq and direction perpendicular to 'r' and 'dl'.

Hence, Biot–Savart law can be stated in vector form to give both the magnitude as well as
direction of magnetic field due to a current element as

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Similar to different charge distributions, we can have different current distribution such as
line current, surface current and volume current. These different types of current densities are
shown in Fig. 2.3.

Line Current Surface Current Volume Current

Fig. 2.3: Different types of current distributions

By denoting the surface current density as K (in amp/m) and volume current density as J
(in amp/m2) we can write:

( It may be noted that )

Employing Biot -Savart Law, we can now express the magnetic field intensity H. In terms of
these current distributions as

............................. for line current............................

........................ for surface current ....................

....................... for volume current......................

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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

𝑯̅̅ Due to infinitely long straight conductor:

We consider a finite length of a conductor carrying a current placed along z-axis as shown in
the Fig 2.4. We determine the magnetic field at point P due to this current carrying conductor.

Fig. 2.4: Field at a point P due to a finite length current carrying conductor

With reference to Fig. 2.4, we find that

Applying Biot - Savart's law for the current element We can write,

Substituting we can write,

We find that, for an infinitely long conductor carrying a current I , and

Therefore

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Ampere's Circuital Law:

Ampere's circuital law states that the line integral of the magnetic field (circulation of H )
around a closed path is the net current enclosed by this path. Mathematically,

The total current I enc can be written as,

By applying Stoke's theorem, we can write

Which is the Ampere's circuital law in the point form and Maxwell’s equation for magneto static
fields.

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Applications of Ampere's circuital law:

.1 It is used to find 𝐻̅̅and 𝐵̅ due to any type of current distribution.

2. If 𝐻̅̅or 𝐵̅ is known then it is also used to find current enclosed by any closed path.

We illustrate the application of Ampere's Law with some examples.

𝑯̅̅ Due to infinitely long straight conductor :( using Ampere's circuital law)
We compute magnetic field due to an infinitely long thin current carrying conductor as
shown in Fig. 2.5. Using Ampere's Law, we consider the close path to be a circle of
radius as shown in the Fig. 4.5.

If we consider a small current element , is perpendicular to the plane

containing both and . Therefore only component of that will be present is
,i.e., .

By applying Ampere's law we can write,

Fig. Magnetic field due to an infinite thin current carrying conductor

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𝑯̅̅ Due to infinitely long coaxial conductor :( using Ampere's circuital law)
We consider the cross section of an infinitely long coaxial conductor, the inner conductor
carrying a current I and outer conductor carrying current - I as shown in figure 2.6. We
compute the magnetic field as a function of as follows:

In the region

In the region

Fig. 2.6: Coaxial conductor carrying equal and opposite currents in the region

In the region

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Magnetic Flux Density:

In simple matter, the magnetic flux density related to the magnetic field intensity as

where called the permeability. In particular when we consider the free space

where H/m is the permeability of the free space. Magnetic flux density is
measured in terms of Wb/m 2 .
The magnetic flux density through a surface is given by:

Wb
In the case of electrostatic field, we have seen that if the surface is a closed surface, the net flux
passing through the surface is equal to the charge enclosed by the surface. In case of magnetic
field isolated magnetic charge (i. e. pole) does not exist. Magnetic poles always occur in pair (as
N-S). For example, if we desire to have an isolated magnetic pole by dividing the magnetic bar
successively into two, we end up with pieces each having north (N) and south (S) pole as shown
in Fig. 6 (a). This process could be continued until the magnets are of atomic dimensions; still
we will have N-S pair occurring together. This means that the magnetic poles cannot be isolated.

Fig. 6: (a) Subdivision of a magnet (b) Magnetic field/ flux lines of a straight current carrying
conductor
Maxwell’s 2nd equation for static magnetic fields:
Similarly if we consider the field/flux lines of a current carrying conductor as shown in Fig. 6
(b), we find that these lines are closed lines, that is, if we consider a closed surface, the number
of flux lines that would leave the surface would be same as the number of flux lines that would
enter the surface.
From our discussions above, it is evident that for magnetic field,

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......................................in integral form

which is the Gauss's law for the magnetic field.
By applying divergence theorem, we can write:

Hence, ...................................................................................... in point/differential form

which is the Gauss's law for the magnetic field in point form.

Magnetic Scalar and Vector Potentials:

In studying electric field problems, we introduced the concept of electric potential that simplified
the computation of electric fields for certain types of problems. In the same manner let us relate
the magnetic field intensity to a scalar magnetic potential and write:

From Ampere's law , we know that

Therefore,

But using vector identity, we find that is valid only where .

Thus the scalar magnetic potential is defined only in the region where . Moreover, Vm in
general is not a single valued function of position. This point can be illustrated as follows. Let us
consider the cross section of a coaxial line as shown in fig 7.

In the region , and

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Fig. 7: Cross Section of a Coaxial Line

If Vm is the magnetic potential then,

If we set Vm = 0 at then c=0 and

We observe that as we make a complete lap around the current carrying conductor , we reach
again but Vm this time becomes

We observe that value of Vm keeps changing as we complete additional laps to pass through the
same point. We introduced Vm analogous to electostatic potential V.
But for static electric fields,

and

whereas for steady magnetic field wherever but even if

along the path of integration.
We now introduce the vector magnetic potential which can be used in regions where
current density may be zero or nonzero and the same can be easily extended to time varying
cases. The use of vector magnetic potential provides elegant ways of solving EM field problems.

Since and we have the vector identity that for any vector , , we

can write .

Here, the vector field is called the vector magnetic potential. Its SI unit is Wb/m.

Thus if can find of a given current distribution, can be found from through a curl

operation. We have introduced the vector function and related its curl to . A vector

function is defined fully in terms of its curl as well as divergence. The choice of is made as
follows.

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By using vector identity,

Great deal of simplification can be achieved if we choose .

Putting , we get which is vector poisson equation.

In Cartesian coordinates, the above equation can be written in terms of the components as

The form of all the above equation is same as that of

for which the solution is

In case of time varying fields we shall see that , which is known as Lorentz condition, V being

the electric potential. Here we are dealing with static magnetic field, so .
By comparison, we can write the solution for Ax as

Computing similar solutions for other two components of the vector potential, the vector
potential can be written as

This equation enables us to find the vector potential at a given point because of a volume current

density .
Similarly for line or surface current density we can write

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.
The magnetic flux through a given area S is given by

Substituting

Vector potential thus have the physical significance that its integral around any closed path is
equal to the magnetic flux passing through that path.

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Forces due to magnetic fields

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Faraday's Law:
Michael Faraday, in 1831 discovered experimentally that a current was induced in a conducting
loop when the magnetic flux linking the loop changed. In terms of fields, we can say that a time
varying magnetic field produces an electromotive force (emf) which causes a current in a closed
circuit. The quantitative relation between the induced emf (the voltage that arises from
conductors moving in a magnetic field or from changing magnetic fields) and the rate of change
of flux linkage developed based on experimental observation is known as Faraday's law.

Any change in the magnetic environment of a coil of wire will cause a voltage (emf) to be
"induced" in the coil. No matter how the change is produced, the voltage will be generated.
The change could be produced by changing the magnetic field strength, moving a magnet
toward or away from the coil, moving the coil into or out of the magnetic field, rotating the coil
relative to the magnet, etc.
Faraday's law is a fundamental relationship which comes from Maxwell's equations. It serves as
a succinct summary of the ways a voltage (or emf) may be generated by a changing magnetic
environment. The induced emf in a coil is equal to the negative of the rate of change of
magnetic flux times the number of turns in the coil. It involves the interaction of charge with
magnetic field.

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When two current carrying conductors are placed next to each other, we notice that each induces
a force on the other. Each conductor produces a magnetic field around itself (Biot– Savart law)
and the second experiences a force that is given by the Lorentz force.

Mathematically, the induced emf can be written as

Emf = Volts

where is the flux linkage over the closed path.

A non zero may result due to any of the following:

(a) time changing flux linkage a stationary closed path.
(b) relative motion between a steady flux a closed path.
(c) a combination of the above two cases.
The negative sign in equation (7) was introduced by Lenz in order to comply with the
polarity of the induced emf. The negative sign implies that the induced emf will cause a current
flow in the closed loop in such a direction so as to oppose the change in the linking magnetic
flux which produces it. (It may be noted that as far as the induced emf is concerned, the closed
path forming a loop does not necessarily have to be conductive).
If the closed path is in the form of N tightly wound turns of a coil, the change in the
magnetic flux linking the coil induces an emf in each turn of the coil and total emf is the sum of
the induced emfs of the individual turns, i.e.,

Emf = Volts
By defining the total flux linkage as

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The emf can be written as

Emf =
Continuing with equation (3), over a closed contour 'C' we can write

Emf =
where is the induced electric field on the conductor to sustain the current.
Further, total flux enclosed by the contour 'C ' is given by

Where S is the surface for which 'C' is the contour.

From (11) and using (12) in (3) we can write

By applying stokes theorem

Therefore, we can write

which is the Faraday's law in the point form

We have said that non zero can be produced in a several ways. One particular case is when a
time varying flux linking a stationary closed path induces an emf. The emf induced in a
stationary closed path by a time varying magnetic field is called a transformer emf .

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MAXWELL’S EQUATIONS (Time varying Fields)

Introduction:
In our study of static fields so far, we have observed that static electric fields are produced by
electric charges, static magnetic fields are produced by charges in motion or by steady current.
Further, static electric field is a conservative field and has no curl, the static magnetic field is
continuous and its divergence is zero. The fundamental relationships for static electric fields
among the field quantities can be summarized as:

(1)

(2)
For a linear and isotropic medium,

(3)
Similarly for the magnetostatic case

(4)

(5)

(6)

It can be seen that for static case, the electric field vectors and and magnetic field

vectors and form separate pairs.

In this chapter we will consider the time varying scenario. In the time varying case we
will observe that a changing magnetic field will produce a changing electric field and vice versa.
We begin our discussion with Faraday's Law of electromagnetic induction and then
present the Maxwell's equations which form the foundation for the electromagnetic theory.
Maxwell's equations represent one of the most elegant and concise ways to state the
fundamentals of electricity and magnetism. From them one can develop most of the working
relationships in the field. Because of their concise statement, they embody a high level of
mathematical sophistication and are therefore not generally introduced in an introductory
treatment of the subject, except perhaps as summary relationships.
These basic equations of electricity and magnetism can be used as a starting point for advanced
courses, but are usually first encountered as unifying equations after the study of electrical and
magnetic phenomena.

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Symbols Used

E = Electric field ρ = charge density i = electric current

B = Magnetic field ε0 = permittivity J = current density

D = Electric displacement μ0 = permeability c = speed of light

H = Magnetic field strength M = Magnetization P = Polarization

Integral form in the absence of magnetic or polarizable media:

I. Gauss' law for electricity

Gauss' law for magnetism

III. Faraday's law of induction

IV. Ampere's law

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Differential form in the absence of magnetic or polarizable media:

I. Gauss' law for electricity

Gauss' law for magnetism

III. Faraday's law of induction

IV. Ampere's law

Differential form with magnetic and/or polarizable media:

I. Gauss' law for electricity

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II. Gauss' law for magnetism

III. Faraday's law of induction

IV. Ampere's law

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Inconsistency of amperes law:

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Solved problems:

Problem1:

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Problem2:

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Problem3:

Problem4:

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Problem5:

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Problem6:

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Problem7:

Problem8:

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UNIT – IV
EM WAVE CHARACTERISTICS-I

 Wave Equations for Conducting and Perfect Dielectric Media

 Uniform Plane Waves - Definition, Relation between E & H
 Wave Propagation in Lossless and Conducting Media
 Wave Propagation in Good Conductors and Good Dielectrics
 Illustrative Problems.

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Wave equations:
The Maxwell's equations in the differential form are

Let us consider a source free uniform medium having dielectric constant , magnetic
permeability and conductivity . The above set of equations can be written as

Using the vector identity ,

We can write from 2

Substituting from 1

But in source free( ) medium (eq3)

In the same manner for equation eqn 1

Since from eqn 4, we can write

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These two equations

are known as wave equations.

Uniform plane waves:

A uniform plane wave is a particular solution of Maxwell's equation assuming electric
field (and magnetic field) has same magnitude and phase in infinite planes perpendicular to the
direction of propagation. It may be noted that in the strict sense a uniform plane wave doesn't
exist in practice as creation of such waves are possible with sources of infinite extent. However,
at large distances from the source, the wave front or the surface of the constant phase becomes
almost spherical and a small portion of this large sphere can be considered to plane. The
characteristics of plane waves are simple and useful for studying many practical scenarios
Let us consider a plane wave which has only E x component and propagating along z .
Since the plane wave will have no variation along the plane perpendicular to z

i.e., xy plane, . The Helmholtz's equation reduces to,

The solution to this equation can be written as

are the amplitude constants (can be determined from boundary conditions).

In the time domain,

assuming are real constants.

Here, represents the forward traveling wave. The plot of

for several values of t is shown in the Figure below

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Figure : Plane wave traveling in the + z direction

As can be seen from the figure, at successive times, the wave travels in the +z direction.
If we fix our attention on a particular point or phase on the wave (as shown by the dot) i.e. ,
= constant
Then we see that as t is increased to , z also should increase to so that

Or,

Or,
When ,

we write = phase velocity .

If the medium in which the wave is propagating is free space i.e.,

Then
Where 'C' is the speed of light. That is plane EM wave travels in free space with the speed of
light.
The wavelength is defined as the distance between two successive maxima (or minima or
any other reference points).

i.e.,
or,

or,

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Substituting ,

or,
Thus wavelength also represents the distance covered in one oscillation of the wave.
Similarly, represents a plane wave traveling in the -z direction.
The associated magnetic field can be found as follows:
From (6.4),

where is the intrinsic impedance of the medium.

When the wave travels in free space

is the intrinsic impedance of the free space.

In the time domain,

Which represents the magnetic field of the wave traveling in the +z direction.
For the negative traveling wave,

For the plane waves described, both the E & H fields are perpendicular to the direction of
propagation, and these waves are called TEM (transverse electromagnetic) waves.
The E & H field components of a TEM wave is shown in Fig below

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Figure : E & H fields of a particular plane wave at time t.

Solved Problems:

1. The vector amplitude of an electric field associated with a plane wave that propagates in
the negative z direction in free space is given by  m  2 a x  3a y V m
Find the magnetic field strength.

Solution:
The direction of propagation nβ is –az. The vector amplitude of the magnetic field is then given
n   a x a y az 
  1  1 
by   0 0 1   3  2 a y A m
m
   377 a x 
230

 
*note   120π~377Ω (Appendix D – Table D.1)
 

2. The phasor electric field expression in a phase is given by

 
  a x   y a y   2  j5 a z e j2.3(0.6x 0.8 y)
Find the following:

1.  y .
2. Vector magnetic field, assuming    and   .
3. Frequency and wavelength of this wave.

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Solution:

1. The general expression for a uniform plane wave propagating in an arbitrary

direction is given by

   m e  j r

where the amplitude vector  m , in general, has components in the x, y, and z

directions. Comparing equation 6.3 with the general field equation for the plane
wave propagating in an arbitrary direction, we obtain

β · r = βxx + βyy + βzz

= β (cos θxx + cos θyy + cos θzz)
= 2.3(-0.6x + 0.8y + 0)

Hence, a unit vector in the direction of propagation nβ is given by

nβ = -0.6ax + 0.8ay.

Because the electric field  must be perpendicular to the direction of propagation nβ, it must
satisfy the following relations:

nβ ·  = 0

 
Therefore, (-0.6a x + 0.8ay ) · a x   y a y   2  j5 a z  0
Or
-0.6 + 0.8  y = 0
Hence,  y = 0.75. The electric field is given by

 
  a x   y a y   2  j5 a z e j2.3(0.6x 0.8 y)


2. The vector magnetic field  is given by

ax ay az
1  1
    0.6 0.8
  n  0
 377
1 0.75 2  j5

so that

0.8(2  j5)
 x   4.24  j10.6103
377

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0.6(2  j5) 
 y    3.18  j7.95103
377

0.60.75  0.8
 z   3.31103
377

The vector magnetic field is then given by

  
 
 ax  
x
 ay  
y z 
 a z e j2.3(0.6x0.8y)

3. The wavelength λ is given by

2 2
   2.73 m
 2.3

and the frequency

c 3108
f   0.11GHz
 2.73

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96
 10.3 WAVE PROPAGATION IN LOSSY DIELECTRICS 417

Figure 10.3 For Example 10.1; wave

travels along — ax.

- 50 sin jix

(c) t = Tl

J
PRACTICE EXERCISE 10.1

In free space, H = 0.1 cos (2 X 108/ - kx) ay A/m. Calculate

(a) k, A, and T
(b) The time tx it takes the wave to travel A/8
(c) Sketch the wave at time tx.

Answer: (a) 0.667 rad/m, 9.425 m, 31.42 ns, (b) 3.927 ns, (c) see Figure 10.4.

0.3 WAVE PROPAGATION IN LOSSY DIELECTRICS

As mentioned in Section 10.1, wave propagation in lossy dielectrics is a general case from
which wave propagation in other types of media can be derived as special cases. Therefore,
this section is foundational to the next three sections.
418 • Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

Figure 10.4 For Practice Exercise 10.1(c).

0. 1 " >

A lossy dielectric is a medium in which an EM wave loses power as it propagates

due to poor conduction.

In other words, a lossy dielectric is a partially conducting medium (imperfect dielectric or

imperfect conductor) with a ¥= 0, as distinct from a lossless dielectric (perfect or good di-
electric) in which a = 0.
Consider a linear, isotropic, homogeneous, lossy dielectric medium that is charge free
(pv = 0). Assuming and suppressing the time factor ej"', Maxwell's equations (see Table
9.2) become

V • E, = 0 (10.11)

V • Hs = 0 (10.12)

V X Es = -ju>nHs (10.13)
(10.14)

Taking the curl of both sides of eq. (10.13) gives

V X V X Es = -join V X H S (10.15)

Applying the vector identity

VX V X A = V ( V - A ) - V2A (10.16)

to the left-hand side of eq. (10.15) and invoking eqs. (10.11) and (10.14), we obtain

V ( V / E , ) - V2ES = -j

or

V2ES - 72ES = 0 (10.17)

where

7 = j'w/^Cff + j (10.18)
 10.3 WAVE PROPAGATION IN LOSSY DIELECTRICS 419

and y is called the propagation constant (in per meter) of the medium. By a similar proce-
dure, it can be shown that for the H field,
V2HS - y2Ks = 0 (10.19)
Equations (10.17) and (10.19) are known as homogeneous vector Helmholtz 's equations or
simply vector wave equations. In Cartesian coordinates, eq. (10.17), for example, is equiv-
alent to three scalar wave equations, one for each component of E along ax, ay, and az.
Since y in eqs. (10.17) to (10.19) is a complex quantity, we may let

y = a + j/3 (10.20)

We obtain a and /3 from eqs. (10.18) and (10.20) by noting that

Re y2 = P2 - a2 = (f (10.21)

and
\y2\ = 01 + a2 = ufi V V + coV (10.22)
From eqs. (10.21) and (10.22), we obtain

a
Oi = (10.23)
cos
V 2 [V J
2 "I
6 = (10.24)
coe
•°v 2 [V J
Without loss of generality, if we assume that the wave propagates along +a z and that
E s has only an x-component, then

E s = Exs(z)ax (10.25)
Substituting this into eq. (10.17) yields

(V2 - y2)Exs(z) (10.26)

Hence

d2Exs(z)

or
,2
—2 - y2 \Exs(z) = 0 (10.27)
dz
420 B Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

This is a scalar wave equation, a linear homogeneous differential equation, with solution
(see Case 2 in Example 6.5)
EJx) = Eoe'yz + E'oeyz (10.28)
where Eo and E'o are constants. The fact that the field must be finite at infinity requires that
E'o = 0. Alternatively, because eiz denotes a wave traveling along —az whereas we assume
wave propagation along az, E'o = 0. Whichever way we look at it, E'o = 0. Inserting the
time factor ejo" into eq. (10.28) and using eq. (10.20), we obtain

Efc t) = Re a J = Re (Eoe-azeji"'-0z)ax)

or

Efo i) = Eoe~azcos(at - j3z)ax (10.29)

A sketch of |E| at times t = 0 and t = At is portrayed in Figure 10.5, where it is evident

that E has only an x-component and it is traveling along the +z-direction. Having obtained
E(z, t), we obtain H(z, t) either by taking similar steps to solve eq. (10.19) or by using eq.
(10.29) in conjunction with Maxwell's equations as we did in Example 9.8. We will even-
tually arrive at

H(z, t) = Re (Hoe -ayM-ft) ) (10.30)

where

H - ^ (10.31)

and 77 is a complex quantity known as the intrinsic impedance (in ohms) of the medium. It
can be shown by following the steps taken in Example 9.8 that

V= (10.32)

Figure 10.5 £-field with x-component

traveling along +z-direction at times
t = 0 and t = At; arrows indicate in-
stantaneous values of E.
 10.3 WAVE PROPAGATION IN LOSSY DIELECTRICS • 421

with

(10.33)

where 0 < 6V < 45°. Substituting eqs. (10.31) and (10.32) into eq. (10.30) gives

or

H = ~\ e~az cos(co? - pz- 0,) (10.34)

Notice from eqs. (10.29) and (10.34) that as the wave propagates along az, it decreases or
attenuates in amplitude by a factor e~az, and hence a is known as the attenuation constant
or attenuation factor of the medium. It is a measure of the spatial rate of decay of the wave
in the medium, measured in nepers per meter (Np/m) or in decibels per meter (dB/m). An
attenuation of 1 neper denotes a reduction to e~l of the original value whereas an increase
of 1 neper indicates an increase by a factor of e. Hence, for voltages
1 Np = 20 log10 e = 8.686 dB (10.35)
From eq. (10.23), we notice that if a = 0, as is the case for a lossless medium and free
space, a = 0 and the wave is not attenuated as it propagates. The quantity (3 is a measure
of the phase shift per length and is called the phase constant or wave number. In terms of
/?, the wave velocity u and wavelength X are, respectively, given by [see eqs. (10.7b) and
(10.8)]
CO 2x (10.36)
X =
0
We also notice from eqs. (10.29) and (10.34) that E and H are out of phase by 0, at any
instant of time due to the complex intrinsic impedance of the medium. Thus at any time, E
leads H (or H lags E) by 6V. Finally, we notice that the ratio of the magnitude of the con-
duction current density J to that of the displacement current density Jd in a lossy medium
is

= tan I
IX* 0)8

or

tan 6 = — (10.37)
coe
422 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

where tan 6 is known as the loss tangent and d is the loss angle of the medium as illustrated
in Figure 10.6. Although a line of demarcation between good conductors and lossy di-
electrics is not easy to make, tan 6 or 6 may be used to determine how lossy a medium is.
A medium is said to be a good (lossless or perfect) dielectric if tan d is very small
(<j <SC we) or a good conductor if tan 0 is very large (a ^5> we). From the viewpoint of
wave propagation, the characteristic behavior of a medium depends not only on its consti-
tutive parameters a, e, and fx but also on the frequency of operation. A medium that is re-
garded as a good conductor at low frequencies may be a good dielectric at high frequen-
cies. Note from eqs. (10.33) and (10.37) that

(10.38)
From eq. (10.14)

V X Hs = (o + jue)Es = jws 1 - E, (10.39)

where

(10.40a)

or
ec = e (10.40b)
and e' = e, s" = a/w; sc is called the complex permittivity of the medium. We observe that
the ratio of e" to e' is the loss tangent of the medium; that is,

e a
tan d = — = — (10.41)
e we
In subsequent sections, we will consider wave propagation in other types of media,
which may be regarded as special cases of what we have considered here. Thus we will
simply deduce the governing formulas from those obtained for the general case treated in
this section. The student is advised not just to memorize the formulas but to observe how
they are easily obtained from the formulas for the general case.

Jds = Figure 10.6 Loss angle of a lossy medium.

J
J5 = oEs
 10.5 PLANE WAVES IN FREE SPACE • 423

10.4 PLANE WAVES IN LOSSLESS DIELECTRICS

In a lossless dielectric, a <$C we. It is a special case of that in Section 10.3 except that

a - 0, e = eosr, n = fiofir (10.42)

Substituting these into eqs. (10.23) and (10.24) gives

a = 0, /3 = WV/JLE (10.43a)

1 (10.43b)
JXS -T
Also

(10.44)

and thus E and H are in time phase with each other.

i 0.5 PLANE WAVES IN FREE SPACE

This is a special case of what we considered in Section 10.3. In this case,

a - 0, e - eo, (10.45)

This may also be regarded as a special case of Section 10.4. Thus we simply replace e by
e o and \k by /xo in eq. (10.43) or we substitute eq. (10.45) directly into eqs. (10.23) and
(10.24). Either way, we obtain

a = 0, /3 = wV/x o s o = — (10.46a)

u = = c, X = (10.46b)

where c — 3 X 108 m/s, the speed of light in a vacuum. The fact that EM wave travels in
free space at the speed of light is significant. It shows that light is the manifestation of an
EM wave. In other words, light is characteristically electromagnetic.
424 • Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

By substituting the constitutive parameters in eq. (10.45) into eq. (10.33), dv = 0 and
=
V ^oi where rjo is called the intrinsic impedance of free space and is given by

(10.47)

E = Eo - (3z) (10.48a)

then

H = Ho cos (ut - f3z) &y = —- cos(cof - (3z) (10.48b)

The plots of E and H are shown in Figure 10.7(a). In general, if a£, aH, and ak are unit
vectors along the E field, the H field, and the direction of wave propagation; it can be
shown that (see Problem 10.14)
ak X a £ = aH

or
X aH = -

Figure 10.7 (a) Plot of E and H as func-

tions of z at t = 0; (b) plot of E and H at
z = 0. The arrows indicate instantaneous
values.

(a)

-E = Eo cos oj/ ax

H = Ho cos ut ay

(b)
 10.6 PLANE WAVES IN G O O D CONDUCTORS 425

or

aE X aH = ak (10.49)

Both E and H fields (or EM waves) are everywhere normal to the direction of wave prop-
agation, ak. That means, the fields lie in a plane that is transverse or orthogonal to the di-
rection of wave propagation. They form an EM wave that has no electric or magnetic field
components along the direction of propagation; such a wave is called a transverse electro-
magnetic (TEM) wave. Each of E and H is called a uniform plane wave because E (or H)
has the same magnitude throughout any transverse plane, defined by z = constant. The di-
rection in which the electric field points is the polarization of a TEM wave.3 The wave in
eq. (10.29), for example, is polarized in the ^-direction. This should be observed in Figure
10.7(b), where an illustration of uniform plane waves is given. A uniform plane wave
cannot exist physically because it stretches to infinity and would represent an infinite
energy. However, such waves are characteristically simple but fundamentally important.
They serve as approximations to practical waves, such as from a radio antenna, at distances
sufficiently far from radiating sources. Although our discussion after eq. (10.48) deals with
free space, it also applies for any other isotropic medium.

0.6 PLANE WAVES IN GOOD CONDUCTORS

This is another special case of that considered in Section 10.3. A perfect, or good conduc-
tor, is one in which a ^S> we so that a/we —> °o; that is,

a — °°, e = so, JX = fionr (10.50)

Hence, eqs. (10.23) and (10.24) become

a = 13 = (10.51a)

(10.51b)

Also,

(10.52)

and thus E leads H by 45°. If

E = Eoe~azcos(a)t - j8z) ax (10.53a)

3
Some texts define polarization differently.
426 P Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

then

az
H = cos(co? — &z — 45°) a.. (10.53b)

Therefore, as E (or H) wave travels in a conducting medium, its amplitude is attenuated by

the factor e~az. The distance <5, shown in Figure 10.8, through which the wave amplitude
decreases by a factor e~l (about 37%) is called skin depth or penetration depth of the
medium; that is,

or

(10.54a)
a

The skin depth is a measure of the depth to which an EM wave can penetrate the
medium.

Equation (10.54a) is generally valid for any material medium. For good conductors,
eqs. (10.51a) and (10.54a) give

<5 = —^ (10.54b)

The illustration in Figure 10.8 for a good conductor is exaggerated. However, for a
partially conducting medium, the skin depth can be considerably large. Note from
eqs. (10.51a), (10.52), and (10.54b) that for a good conductor.

(10.55)
ao a8

Figure 10.8 Illustration of skin depth.

 10.6 PLANE WAVES IN G O O D CONDUCTORS 427

TABLE 10.2 Skin Depth in Copper*

Frequency (Hz) 10 60 100 500 10 4 10 8 10 1 0

3
Skin depth (mm) 20.8 8.6 6.6 2.99 0.66 6.6 X 10~ 6.6 x 10" 4

*For copper, a = 5.8 X IO7 mhos/m, fi = ft,,, <5 = 66.1/ vf (in mm).

Also for good conductors, eq. (10.53a) can be written as

E = Eae~dh cos o>t--)ax

showing that 5 measures the exponential damping of the wave as it travels through the con-
ductor. The skin depth in copper at various frequencies is shown in Table 10.2. From the
table, we notice that the skin depth decreases with increase in frequency. Thus, E and H
can hardly propagate through good conductors.
The phenomenon whereby field intensity in a conductor rapidly decreases is known as
skin effect. The fields and associated currents are confined to a very thin layer (the skin) of
the conductor surface. For a wire of radius a, for example, it is a good approximation at
high frequencies to assume that all of the current flows in the circular ring of thickness 5 as
shown in Figure 10.9. Skin effect appears in different guises in such problems as attenua-
tion in waveguides, effective or ac resistance of transmission lines, and electromagnetic
shielding. It is used to advantage in many applications. For example, because the skin
depth in silver is very small, the difference in performance between a pure silver compo-
nent and a silver-plated brass component is negligible, so silver plating is often used to
reduce material cost of waveguide components. For the same reason, hollow tubular con-
ductors are used instead of solid conductors in outdoor television antennas. Effective elec-
tromagnetic shielding of electrical devices can be provided by conductive enclosures a few
skin depths in thickness.
The skin depth is useful in calculating the ac resistance due to skin effect. The resis-
tance in eq. (5.16) is called the dc resistance, that is,

(5.16)
aS

Figure 10.9 Skin depth at high frequencies, 5 <SC a.

428 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

We define the surface or skin resistance Rs (in fl/m2) as the real part of the 77 for a good
conductor. Thus from eq. (10.55)

(10.56)

This is the resistance of a unit width and unit length of the conductor. It is equivalent to the
dc resistance for a unit length of the conductor having cross-sectional area 1 X 5 . Thus for
a given width w and length €, the ac resistance is calculated using the familiar dc resistance
relation of eq. (5.16) and assuming a uniform current flow in the conductor of thickness 6,
that is,

(10.57)
obw w

where S 8w. For a conductor wire of radius a (see Figure 10.9), w = 2ira, so
_J__
/?ac _ ff27ra6 a
fl^~~~^~26
(77ra2
Since 6 <3C a at high frequencies, this shows that /?ac is far greater than Rdc. In general, the
ratio of the ac to the dc resistance starts at 1.0 for dc and very low frequencies and in-
creases as the frequency increases. Also, although the bulk of the current is nonuniformly
distributed over a thickness of 56 of the conductor, the power loss is the same as though it
were uniformly distributed over a thickness of 6 and zero elsewhere. This is one more
reason why 5 is referred to as the skin depth.

A lossy dielectric has an intrinsic impedance of 200 /30° fi at a particular frequency. If, at
EXAMPLE 10.2
that frequency, the plane wave propagating through the dielectric has the magnetic field
component

H = 10e"°"cos(cof--xJa>,A/m

find E and a. Determine the skin depth and wave polarization.

Solution:
The given wave travels along ax so that ak = ax; aH = ay, so
- a £ = a* X aH = ax x ay = az
or
aE = - a z
 10.6 PLANE WAVES IN GOOD CONDUCTORS B 429

AlsoWo = 10, so

- = 77 = 200 rW = 200 eJ*16 -> Eo = 2000e"r/6

H,

Except for the amplitude and phase difference, E and H always have the same form. Hence

E = Re (2000e ; 7 r V 7 V"'a £ )

or

E = - 2 e ~ M cosf cot - - + - ) az kV/m

V 2 6/

Knowing that /3 = 1/2, we need to determine a. Since

and

»-<*/¥ K H = +1
1/2
CT
1+ - 1
COS

1+ + 1
coe

But — = tan 2(L = tan 60° = V l Hence,

we '
2-
2+ lJ V3

or

V3
4= = F
a = -4= = F = 0.2887 Np/m
2V3

and

5 = - = 2 V 3 = 3.4641m
a

The wave has an Ez component; hence it is polarized along the z-direction.

430 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

PRACTICE EXERCISE 10.2

A plane wave propagating through a medium with er — 8, ixr - 2 has E = 0.5

e~^3 sin(108f - @z) ax V/m. Determine
(a) 0
(b) The loss tangent
(c) Wave impedance
(d) Wave velocity
(e) H field

Answer: (a) 1.374 rad/m, (b) 0.5154, (c) 177.72 /13.63° 0, (d) 7.278 X 107 m/s,
(e) 2.%\le~M sin(1081 - 0z - 13.63°)ay mA/m.

In a lossless medium for which -q = 60ir, ixr = 1, and H = —0.1 cos (cof — z) a x +
EXAMPLE 10.3
0.5 sin (cor — z)&y A/m, calculate e r , co, and E.

Solution:
In this case, a = 0, a = 0, and /3 = 1, so

/X o 12O-7T

or
120TT 120x
er = = ^ — = 2 -> er = 4
60TT

2co
c

or
1 (3 X 108)
co = = 1.5 X 108rad/s

From the given H field, E can be calculated in two ways: using the techniques (based on
Maxwell's equations) developed in this chapter or directly using Maxwell's equations as in
the last chapter.

Method 1: To use the techniques developed in this chapter, we let

E = H, + H2
 10.6 PLANE WAVES IN G O O D CONDUCTORS 431

where Hj = -0.1 cos (uf - z) ax and H 2 = 0.5 sin (wt - z) ay and the corresponding
electric field
E = E, + E 7
where Ej = Elo cos (cof - z) a £i and E 2 = E2o sin (cof - z) aEi. Notice that although H
has components along ax and ay, it has no component along the direction of propagation; it
is therefore a TEM wave.
ForEb
afi] = -(a* X aHl) = - ( a , X - a x ) = a,
E\o = V Hlo = 60TT (0.1) = 6TT

Hence
= 6x cos {bit — z) av

ForE,
aEl = ~{akx aH) = -{az X ay) = ax
E2o = V H2o = 60TT (0.5) = 30x

Hence
E 2 = 30TT sin {wt - z)ax

Adding E) and E 2 gives E; that is,

E = 94.25 sin (1.5 X 108f - z) ax + 18.85 cos (1.5 X 108? - z) ay V/m
Method 2: We may apply Maxwell's equations directly.

1
V X H = iE + s •
dt
0

because a = 0. But

JL JL A.
dHy dHx
V X H = dx dy dz
Hx(z) Hv(z) 0
= H2o cos {bit - z) ax + Hlo sin (wf - z)ay
where Hlo = -0.1 and// 2o = 0.5. Hence
if W W
E=- V x H ( i ( = — sin (wf - z) a, cos (cor - z) a,,
e J eco eco '
= 94.25 sin(cor - z)ax+ 18.85 cos(wf - z) a, V/m
as expected.
432 8 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

PRACTICE EXERCISE 10.3

A plane wave in a nonmagnetic medium has E = 50 sin (10 t + 2z) ay V/m. Find
(a) The direction of wave propagation
(b) A,/, and sr
(c) H

Answer: (a) along -z direction, (b) 3.142 m, 15.92 MHz, 36, (c) 0.7958
sin(108f + 2z) ax A/m.

A uniform plane wave propagating in a medium has

EXAMPLE 10.4
E = 2e'az sin (108f - /3z) ay V/m.
If the medium is characterized by er = 1, \ir = 20, and a = 3 mhos/m, find a, /3, and H.

Solution:
We need to determine the loss tangent to be able to tell whether the medium is a lossy di-
electric or a good conductor.

a
ro = 3393
we 8 10
10 X 1 X
36TT

showing that the medium may be regarded as a good conductor at the frequency of opera-
tion. Hence,
1/2
4TT X 10~ 7 X 20(108)(3)
a= (3 =

= 61.4
a = 61.4 Np/m, /3 = 61.4 rad/m

Also
1/2
4TT X 10"' X 20(10 s )
a

8OO7T

tan 20 = — = 3393 = 45° = TT/4

Hence

H = Hoe~az sin [ at - &z

 10.6 PLANE WAVES IN G O O D CONDUCTORS 433

where

aH = ak X aE = az X ay = -ax

and

Thus

H -69.1 e" 61 ' 4z sin - 61.42z J ax mA/m

PRACTICE EXERCISE 10.4

A plane wave traveling in the +)>-direction in a lossy medium (er = 4, \xr = 1,

cr = 10"2 mhos/m) has E = 30 cos (109?r t + x/4) az V/m at y = 0. Find
(a) E at y = 1 m, / = 2 ns
(b) The distance traveled by the wave to have a phase shift of 10°
(c) The distance traveled by the wave to have its amplitude reduced by 40%
(d) H at y = 2 m, t = 2 ns

Answer: (a) 2.787az V/m, (b) 8.325 mm, (c) 542 mm, (d) -4.71a, mA/m

A plane wave E = Eo cos (u>t - j3z) ax is incident on a good conductor at z = 0. Find the
XAMPLE10.5
current density in the conductor.

Solution:
Since the current density J =CTE,we expect J to satisfy the wave equation in eq. (10.17),
that is,

V2JS - T
2
JS = 0

Also the incident E has only an x-component and varies with z. Hence J = Jx(z, t) ax and

l_ 5X
_ 2 sx
, 2 ^
UZ

which is an ordinary differential equation with solution (see Case 2 of Example 6.5)

7 = Ae~yz + Be+yz
434 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

The constant B must be zero because Jsx is finite as z~> °°. But in a good conductor,
a ^> we so that a = /3 = 1/5. Hence

(1 + j)
7 = a + jf3 = a(l + j) =

and

= Ae~*

or

where Jsx (0) is the current density on the conductor surface.

PRACTICE EXERCISE 10.5

Due to the current density of Example 10.5, find the magnitude of the total current
through a strip of the conductor of infinite depth along z and width w along y.

Answer:
V~2

For the copper coaxial cable of Figure 7.12, let a = 2 mm, b = 6 mm, and t = 1 mm. Cal-
EXAMPLE 10.6
culate the resistance of 2 m length of the cable at dc and at 100 MHz.

Solution:
Let
R = Ro + Ri
where Ro and Rt are the resistances of the inner and outer conductors.
Atdc,

= 2.744 mfi
aira2 5.8 X 10 7 TT[2 X 10~ 3 ] 2

/?„ = — =
aS oir[[b + t]2 - b2] air[t2 + 2bt\
2
~ 5.8 X 107TT [1 + 12] X 10" 6
= 0.8429 mO

Hence Rdc = 2.744 + 0.8429 = 3.587 mfi

 10.7 POWER AND THE POYNTING VECTOR 435

A t / = 100 MHz,
Rsl _ I
w o82ira 2-KO. V o
2 TT X 10 s X 4?r X 10"
2-KX 2 X 10" 3 5.8 X 107
= 0.41 fl

Since 6 = 6.6 /xm <$C t = 1 mm, H1 = 2TT£ for the outer conductor. Hence,

w 2-Kb V a
TT X 10s X 4TT X
-3
2TT X 6 X 10 5.8 X 107
= 0.1384 fi
Hence,
Rac = 0.41 + 0.1384 = 0.5484 U
which is about 150 times greater than Rdc. Thus, for the same effective current i, the ohmic
loss (i2R) of the cable at 100 MHz is far greater than the dc power loss by a factor of 150.

PRACTICE EXERCISE 10.6

For an aluminum wire having a diameter 2.6 mm, calculate the ratio of ac to dc re-
sistance at
(a) 10 MHz
(b) 2 GHz

Answer: (a) 24.16, (b) 341.7.

0.7 POWER AND THE POYNTING VECTOR

As mentioned before, energy can be transported from one point (where a transmitter is
located) to another point (with a receiver) by means of EM waves. The rate of such energy
transportation can be obtained from Maxwell's equations:

VXE = -J (10.58a)
dt
dE
— (10.58b)
dt
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

UNIT - V
EM WAVE CHARACTERISTICS – II

 Reflection and Refraction of Plane Waves –

 Normal incidence for both perfect Conductors
 perfect Dielectrics
 Brewster Angle
 Critical Angle
 Total Internal Reflection S
 Surface Impedance,
 Poynting Vector and
 Poynting Theorem – Applications
 Illustrative Problems.

96
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Plane Wave Propagation at Arbitrary Angle

Plane waves are not normally incident, so now we must consider the general problem of a plane
wave propagating along a specified axis that is arbitrarily relative to a rectangular coordinate
system. The most convenient way is in terms of the direction cosines of the uniform plane wave,
the equiphase surfaces are planes perpendicular to the direction of propagation.

Definitions:
uniform planes – a free space plane wave at an infinite distance from the generator,
having constant amplitude electric and magnetic field vectors over the equiphase surfaces.

equiphase surface – any surface in a wave over which the field vectors of a particular
instant have either 0° or 180° phase difference.

For a plane wave propagating along the +z axis

 ( z)   m e  j z a x (6.1)

Equation (6.1) states that each z equal to a constant plane will represent an equiphase surface
with no spatial variation in the electric or magnetic fields. In other words,
 
0  for a uniform plane wave
x y

It will be necessary to replace z for a plane wave traveling in an arbitrary direction with an
expression when put equal to a constant (βz = constant), that will result in equiphase surfaces.
The equation of an equiphase plane is given by

  r   n  r
The radial vector (r) from the origin to any point on the plane, and β is the vector normal to the
plane is shown in Figure (6.1).

z
P

  n

z r
O y
y
x x W

97
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

As you can see from figure 6.1, the plane perpendicular to the vector β is seen from its side
appearing as a line P-W. The dot product nβ · r is the projection of the radial vector r along the
normal to the plane and will have the constant value OM for all points on the plane. The
equation β · r = constant is the characteristic property of a plane perpendicular to the direction
of propagation β.

The equiphase equation is

β · r = βxx + βyy + βzz

= β (cos θxx + cos θyy + cos θzz)

= constant

r= x a x  y a y  z az

   x a x   y a y   z az

θx, θy, θz, are the angles the β vector makes with x, y, and z axes, respectively.

Reflection and Refraction at Plane Interface between Two Media:

Figure 6.7 shows two media with electrical properties  1 and  1 in medium 1, and  2 and  2 in
medium 2. Here a plane wave incident angle  i on a boundary between the two media will be
partially transmitted into and partially reflected at the dielectric surface. The transmitted wave is
reflected into the second medium, so its direction of propagation is different from the incidence
wave. The figure also shows two rays for each the incident, reflected, and transmitted waves. A
ray is a line drawn normal to the equiphase surfaces, and the line is along the direction of
propagation.

98
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Incident
2 rays Reflected
rays
1

1 r 2

i C E

 1 , 1
A
 2 , 2 B

t

Reflected
rays
Figure 6.7

The incident ray 2 travels the distance CB, while on the contrary the reflected ray 1 travels the
distance AE. For both AC and BE to be the incident and reflected wave fronts or planes of
equiphase, the incident wave should take the same time to cover the distance AE. The reason
being that the incident and reflected wave rays are located in the same medium, therefore their
velocities will be equal,

CB AE

V1 V 2
OR

AB sin  i  AB sin  r

With this being the case then it follows that

i   r

What is the relationship between the angles of incidence i and refraction  r ?

It takes the incident ray the equal amount of time to cover distance CB as it takes the refracted
ray to cover distance AD –

CB AD

V1 V 2

And the magnitude of the velocity V1 in medium 1 is:

99
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

1
V1 
1 1

And in medium 2:

1
V2 
2   2

Also,

CB  AB sin  i
AD  AB sin  i

Therefore,

CB sin  i V 1 2   2
  
AD sin  t V 2 1   1

For most dielectrics  2  1  

sin  i 
Therefore,  2 (6.12)
sin  t 1     
1 2 

Equation 6.12 is known as Snell’s Law of Refraction.

Behaviour of Plane waves at the inteface of two media:

We have considered the propagation of uniform plane waves in an unbounded
homogeneous medium. In practice, the wave will propagate in bounded regions where several
values of will be present. When plane wave travelling in one medium meets a different
medium, it is partly reflected and partly transmitted. In this section, we consider wave reflection
and transmission at planar boundary between two media.

100
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

Fig 6 : Normal Incidence at a plane boundary

Case1: Let z = 0 plane represent the interface between two media. Medium 1 is characterised by
and medium 2 is characterized by .Let the subscripts 'i' denotes incident,
'r' denotes reflected and 't' denotes transmitted field components respectively.
The incident wave is assumed to be a plane wave polarized along x and travelling in medium 1

along direction. From equation (6.24) we can write

..................(1)

......................(2)

where and .
Because of the presence of the second medium at z =0, the incident wave will undergo partial

reflection and partial transmission.The reflected wave will travel along in medium 1.
The reflected field components are:

...............................................(3)

.........(4)

The transmitted wave will travel in medium 2 along for which the field components are

............................................(5)

............................................(6)

where and

In medium 1,

and
and in medium 2,

and
Applying boundary conditions at the interface z = 0, i.e., continuity of tangential field
components and noting that incident, reflected and transmitted field components are tangential at
the boundary, we can write

101
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS&WAVES DEPT.ECE

&
From equation 3to 6 we get,

................................................................(7)

..............................................................(8)
Eliminating Eto ,

or,

or,

...............(8)
is called the reflection coefficient.
From equation (8), we can write

or,

........................................(9)
is called the transmission coefficient.
We observe that,

........................................(10)
The following may be noted
(i) both and T are dimensionless and may be complex

(ii)
Let us now consider specific cases:
Case I: Normal incidence on a plane conducting boundary

The medium 1 is perfect dielectric and medium 2 is perfectly conducting .

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From (9) and (10)

= -1
and T =0
Hence the wave is not transmitted to medium 2, it gets reflected entirely from the interface to the
medium 1.

& .................................(11)
Proceeding in the same manner for the magnetic field in region 1, we can show that,

...................................................................................(12)
The wave in medium 1 thus becomes a standing wave due to the super position of a forward
travelling wave and a backward travelling wave. For a given ' t', both and vary
sinusoidally with distance measured from z = 0. This is shown in figure 6.9.

Figure 7: Generation of standing wave

Zeroes of E1(z,t) and Maxima of H1(z,t).
Maxima of E1(z,t) and zeroes of H1(z,t).

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Case2: Normal incidence on a plane dielectric boundary : If the medium 2 is not a perfect
conductor (i.e. ) partial reflection will result. There will be a reflected wave in the
medium 1 and a transmitted wave in the medium 2.Because of the reflected wave, standing wave
is formed in medium 1.
From equation (10) and equation (13) we can write

..................(14)
Let us consider the scenario when both the media are dissipation less i.e. perfect dielectrics (
)

..................(15)

In this case both and become real numbers.

..................(16)
From (6.61), we can see that, in medium 1 we have a traveling wave component with amplitude
TEio and a standing wave component with amplitude 2JE io. The location of the maximum and the
minimum of the electric and magnetic field components in the medium 1from the interface can
be found as follows. The electric field in medium 1 can be written as

..................(17)

If i.e. >0
The maximum value of the electric field is

..................(18)
and this occurs when

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or , n = 0, 1, 2, 3.......................(19)

The minimum value of is

.................(20)
And this occurs when

or , n = 0, 1, 2, 3.............................(21)

For i.e. <0

The maximum value of is which occurs at the zmin locations and the minimum

value of is which occurs at zmax locations as given by the equations (6.64) and
(6.66).

From our discussions so far we observe that can be written as

.................(22)

The quantity S is called as the standing wave ratio.

As the range of S is given by
From (6.62), we can write the expression for the magnetic field in medium 1 as

.................(23)

From (6.68) we find that will be maximum at locations where is minimum and vice
versa.
In medium 2, the transmitted wave propagates in the + z direction.

Brewster Angle:
Brewster angle is defined as the angle of incidence at which there will be no reflected wave. It
occurs when the incident wave is polarized such that the E field is parallel to the plane of
incidence.
Brewster Angle – (from Brewster’s Law), the polarizing angle of which (when light is
incident) the reflected and refracted index is equal to the tangent of the polarizing angle. In other
words, the angle of incidence of which there is no reflection.
From the reflection coefficient expression-
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2 cos  t  1 cos  i
 || 
2 cos t  1 cos  i

It can be seen that there is an angle of incidence at  | |  0 . This angle can be obtained when
1 cos i  2 cos t

Or
2
cos  i  cos  t
1

The angle of incidence  i , at which  ||  0 , is known as the Brewster angle. The expression for
this angle in terms of the dielectric properties of media 1 & 2, considering Snell’s Law for the
special case 1   2   is

sin  i V 1  2

sin  t V 2  1
 1 2  

This condition is important, because it is usually satisfied by the materials often used in optical
applications.

Equation 6.19 will take the form –

1
cos i  cos t
2

Square both sides of equation 6.20 and use Snell’s Law for the special case of 1   2   for
the following result:

cos2  i
1
2


 cos2  t  1 1  sin2 t
2



 1 1  sin 2  i
2

The last substitution was based on Snell’s Law of refraction. Therefore,

12
1  sin2  i   1  2 sin2  i
2 2

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   12 
1  1  sin2  i  1  
2   22 
And

2
sin2  i 
 2  1

The Brewster angle of incidence is

2
sin  i 
 2  1

A specific value of θi can be obtained from equation 6.21 -

2
1  cos2  i 
 2  1
Or
2 1
cos2  i  1   
 2  1  2  1

1
cos  i  (6.23)
 2  1

From equations 6.22 & 6.23 –

2
tan  i 
1

This specific angle of incidence  i is called the Brewster angle   .

2
   tan1
1

Critical angle:

In geometric optics, at a refractive boundary, the smallest angle of incidence at which total
internal reflection occurs. The critical angle is given by

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Where Өc is the critical angle, n 1 is the refractive index of the less dense medium, and n 2 is the
refractive index of the denser medium.

Angle of incidence: The angle between an incident ray and the normal to a reflecting or
refracting surface

Total Reflection at Critical Angle of Incidence

In the previous section it was shown that for common dielectrics, the phenomenon of total
transmission exists only where the electric field is parallel to the plane of incidence known as
parallel polarization.
There is a second phenomenon existing for both polarizations:
 Total reflection occurring at the interface between two dielectric media
 A wave passing from a medium with a larger dielectric constant to a medium with
smaller value of ε

Snell’s Law of refraction shows –

sin  i  sin  t
 2 or sin  i  (6.26)
sin  t 1 2
1

Therefore, if  1   2 , and  t   i then a wave incident at an angle  i will pass into medium 2
at a larger angle t .

Definition:
 c , (critical angle of incidence) is the value of  i that makes t = π/2, see Figure 6.13.

Substitute t = π/2 in equation 6.26 to get –

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2 
sin  c  , or  c  sin1 2
1 1

i c

1

2 t   2
t
1   2

Figure 6.13 illustrates the fact that t  i , if 1  2 . The critical angle  c is defined as the
value of  i at which t = π/2.

Envision a beam of light impinging on an interface between two transparent media where
ni  n t . At normal incidence (  i = 0) most of the incoming light is transmitted into the less
dense medium. As  i increases, more and more light is reflected back into the dense medium,
while t increases. When t = 90°,  i is defined to be  c and the transmittance becomes zero.
For  i >  c all of the light is totally internally reflected, remaining in the incident medium.

Poynting Vector and Power Flow in Electromagnetic Fields:

Electromagnetic waves can transport energy from one point to another point. The electric and
magnetic field intensities asscociated with a travelling electromagnetic wave can be related to the
rate of such energy transfer.
Let us consider Maxwell's Curl Equations:

Using vector identity

the above curl equations we can write

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.............................................(1)
In simple medium where and are constant, we can write

and

Applying Divergence theorem we can write,

...........................(2)

The term represents the rate of change of energy stored in the electric

and magnetic fields and the term represents the power dissipation within the volume.
Hence right hand side of the equation (6.36) represents the total decrease in power within the
volume under consideration.

The left hand side of equation (6.36) can be written as where

(W/mt2) is called the Poynting vector and it represents the power density vector associated with
the electromagnetic field. The integration of the Poynting vector over any closed surface gives
the net power flowing out of the surface. Equation (6.36) is referred to as Poynting theorem and
it states that the net power flowing out of a given volume is equal to the time rate of decrease in
the energy stored within the volume minus the conduction losses.
Poynting vector for the time harmonic case:
For time harmonic case, the time variation is of the form , and we have seen that
instantaneous value of a quantity is the real part of the product of a phasor quantity and when
is used as reference. For example, if we consider the phasor

then we can write the instanteneous field as

.................................(1)

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when E0 is real.
Let us consider two instanteneous quantities A and B such that

..................(2)

where A and B are the phasor quantities.

i.e,

Therefore,

..............................(3)

Since A and B are periodic with period , the time average value of the product form AB,
denoted by can be written as

.....................................(4)
Further, considering the phasor quantities A and B, we find that

and , where * denotes complex conjugate.

..............................................(5)
The poynting vector can be expressed as

...................................(6)

If we consider a plane electromagnetic wave propagating in +z direction and has only

component, from (6.42) we can write:

Using (6)

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........................................(7)

where and , for the plane wave under consideration.

For a general case, we can write

.....................(8)
We can define a complex Poynting vector

and time average of the instantaneous Poynting vector is given by .

Polarization of plane wave:

The polarization of a plane wave can be defined as the orientation of the electric field
vector as a function of time at a fixed point in space. For an electromagnetic wave, the
specification of the orientation of the electric field is sufficient as the magnetic field components
are related to electric field vector by the Maxwell's equations.
Let us consider a plane wave travelling in the +z direction. The wave has both E x and Ey
components.

The corresponding magnetic fields are given by,

Depending upon the values of Eox and Eoy we can have several possibilities:
1. If Eoy = 0, then the wave is linearly polarised in the x-direction.
2. If Eoy = 0, then the wave is linearly polarised in the y-direction.
3. If Eox and Eoy are both real (or complex with equal phase), once again we get a linearly

polarised wave with the axis of polarisation inclined at an angle , with respect to the x-
axis. This is shown in fig1 below

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Fig1 : Linear Polarisation

4. If Eox and Eoy are complex with different phase angles, will not point to a single spatial
direction. This is explained as follows:

Let

Then,

and ....................................(2)

To keep the things simple, let us consider a =0 and . Further, let us study the nature of the
electric field on the z =0 plain.
From equation (2) we find that,

.....................................(3)

and the electric field vector at z = 0 can be written as

.............................................(4)

Assuming , the plot of for various values of t is hown in figure 2

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Figure 2 : Plot of E(o,t)

From equation (6.47) and figure (6.5) we observe that the tip of the arrow representing electric
field vector traces qn ellipse and the field is said to be elliptically polarised.

Figure 3: Polarisation ellipse

The polarisation ellipse shown in figure 3 is defined by its axial ratio(M/N, the ratio of
semimajor to semiminor axis), tilt angle (orientation with respect to xaxis) and sense of
rotation(i.e., CW or CCW). Linear polarisation can be treated as a special case of elliptical
polarisation, for which the axial ratio is infinite.

In our example, if , from equation the tip of the arrow representing electric field
vector traces out a circle. Such a case is referred to as Circular Polarisation. For circular
polarisation the axial ratio is unity

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Figure 5: Circular Polarisation (RHCP)

Further, the circular polarisation is aside to be right handed circular polarisation (RHCP) if the
electric field vector rotates in the direction of the fingers of the right hand when the thumb points
in the direction of propagation-(same and CCW). If the electric field vector rotates in the
opposite direction, the polarisation is asid to be left hand circular polarisation (LHCP) (same as
CW).In AM radio broadcast, the radiated electromagnetic wave is linearly polarised with the
field vertical to the ground( vertical polarisation) where as TV signals are horizontally polarised
waves. FM broadcast is usually carried out using circularly polarised waves.In radio
communication, different information signals can be transmitted at the same frequency at
orthogonal polarisation ( one signal as vertically polarised other horizontally polarised or one as
RHCP while the other as LHCP) to increase capacity. Otherwise, same signal can be transmitted
at orthogonal polarisation to obtain diversity gain to improve reliability of transmission.

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Solved Problems:

 
1. Calculate the polarization angle (Brewster angle) for an air water  r  81 interface at
which plane waves pass from the following:
(a) Air into water.
(b) Water into air.

SOLUTION

1. (a) Air into water:

 r1  1 and  r 2  81

The Brewster angle is then given by

2
   tan1 = 6.34°
1
Therefore,

   tan1 81 = 83.7°

(b) Water into air:

r1  81 and r 2  1
Hence,
1
   tan1 = 6.34°
81

To relate the Brewster angles in both cases, let us calculate the angle of
refraction.
sin  i 
 2
sin  t 1

Therefore, in case a,

sin  
 81
sin  t
Therefore,
sin 83.7
sin  t   011
.
9

Or  t  6.34 , which is the same as the Brewster angle for case b. Also, the angle of refraction
in case b is given by Snell’s Law as:
sin    1
 
sin  t 81  81
Therefore,

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sin 6.34
sin  t   0.99
1
81
Or  t  83.7 , which is the Brewster angle for case a.


2. The index of refraction of liquid is 1.9. What is the critical angle for a light ray travelling in
the liquid toward a flat layer of air?
Solution
The critical angle is determined by the following expression (Snell’s law, in which the angle of
refraction is ):

Here is the index of refraction of medium 1 (liquid), is the index of

refraction of medium 2 (air). We substitute the known values in the above expression and find
the critical angle

3. Find the critical angle for total internal reflection for light going from ice (index of refraction
= 1.31) into air.
Solution
The critical angle is defined as the angle of incidence for which the corresponding angle of
refraction is . Then the Snell’s law takes the following form

Here is the index of refraction of medium 1 (ice), is the unknown critical

angle, is the angle of refraction (angle in air), and is the index of refraction
of medium 2 (air). We substitute these values into above expression and obtain

Then

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